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AN ATTEMPT 



TO DISPLAY 



THE ORIGINAL EVIDENCES 



OF 



CHRISTIANITY 



THEIR GENUINE SIMPLICITY 



By N. NISBETT, A.M. 

RECTOR OF TUNSTALL. 



LONDON: 

o 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 

BY T. BENSLEV, BOLT COURT, 

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1807. 



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PREFACE. 



PREFACE. 



If there be any merit in the following work, 
it is in a faithful and undeviating attention 
to the gofpel hiftory, as an hiftory of the 
great controverfy between our Lord and his 
countrymen, concerning the true nature of 
the Meffiah's character; and though it is, 
perhaps, little more than an abridgment of a 
much larger work, publifhed in the year 
1802, yet the plan which I have adopted, 
feems to me to bid fair to be a fare guide to 
the right underftanding of the New Teffca- 
ment, and of fome of its moft obfcure 
and difficult paffages. Upon fome of thefe 
paflages I have been compelled to dif- 
fer very materially from many very learned 
and very excellent men; but I have the 
heartfelt fatisfadion of reflecting, that the 

opinion 



Vlll PREFACE. 

opinion which I have adopted, is, at leaft, as 
favourable to the interefts of Chriftianity as 
their's, and is, as I humbly conceive, fup- 
ported by fuperior arguments. It has alio 
this additional advantage, that it harmonizes, 
moil exactly, with the general tenor of the 
gofpel hiftory, and with the whole of the 
New Teftament, the book of the Revelations 
excepted, which I do not profefs to under- 
fland. I am not afhamed to make this ac- 
knowledgment ; Luther, and Calvin, and 
Lardner, and many other great men, having 
done it before me. And whoever has read 
what ProfefTor Michaelis and Dr. Lefs have 
advanced upon the fubjedt of the authenticity 
of this book, will not be very confident that 
it ought to be ranked among the facred books. 
At lead I do not think myfelf juftified in 
quoting from it, in matters of controverfy. 

The application of St. Paul's Man of Sin, 
to the church of Rome, to w T hich I chiefly 
allude, appears to me to be radically defec- 
tive, upon this ground, that however corrupt 

that 



PREFACE. . IX 

that church may be fuppofed to be, flie can- 
not, with any propriety, be faid to have apof- 
tatized from the Chriftian faith ; for the di- 
vine nuffion of our Lord is as much an ar- 
ticle of her creed as it is of ours ; and the 
very corruptions of the church of Rome, of 
which we fojuftly complain, are fupported 
by an appeal to the authority of fcripture. 
The late bifhop of St. Afaph (Dr. Horfley) 
fpeaking upon this fubjecl, fays, " It was 
a conjiruilive apojlacy never underftood to be 
fuch by thofe to whom the guilt has been 
imputed." And Mr. Kett, fpeaking of the 
awful tragedies lately tranfa&ed in France, 
fays, " The whole clergy (of France) were 
perfecuted by thofe who publicly profefled 
the fame religious faith, and for no other 
crime than that of facrificing their intereft to 
their confeiences. Yet more than two thirds of 
the parochial clergy at Paris remained firm, 
and the proportion in the country, where the 
number could not be fo accurately afcertain- 
«d, was calculated ftill higher. The prelates 
b them- 



-X PREFACE. 

themfelves, gave an illuftrious example ; only 
four out of one hundred and thirty-eight, 
the whole number of the bench, became 
what their brethren confidered as apoftates." 
See Mr. Rett's Hiftory the Interpreter of Pro- 
phecy, vol. ii. p. 230. 

The opinion which I have adopted, upon 
the meaning of St. Paul's Man of Sin, is not 
a novel one. — It has not been haftily formed ; 
it having arifen from the manner in which, 
for more than twenty years, I have been ac- 
cuftomed to ftddy the gofpel hiftory as an 
hiftory of the con loverly concerning the 
Meffiah's character. And it has been efooufed 
by many very learned men, particularly by 
the great Grotius, and by our own country- 
man, Dr. Whitby. But of the juftnefs of 
this opinion, the reader will form his own 
judgment from the arguments which have 
been made ufe of. If they are folid and con- 
vincing, it matters little, by w 7 hom it has 
been efpoufed, or by whom oppofed. 

I fhould not think myfelf juftified without 

remarking, 



PREFACE. XI 

remarking, that in the interpretation of Mat- 
thew, xvi. 27, I have differed from what I 
had fnppofed to be the meaning in my Tri- 
umphs of Chriftianity over Infidelity — but I 
am far from being confident that I may not 
be miftaken — but whichever may be the true 
fenfe, the meaning of the following verfe will 
not be affected by it. 

I cannot conclude without expreffing my 
gratitude to the fubfcribers to this work, and 
particularly to the inhabitants of Sitting- 
bourne and its vicinity ; without w 7 hofe pa- 
tronage I could not have ventured again to 
appear before the public. 



Tun ft all, 
Dec. 21, 18060 



ERRATA. 



J.n page 81, line 10— for its read their. 

In the Note, page 95, laft line— for Key read my Triumphs 
of Chrijiianity. 



THE 



ORIGINAL EVIDENCES 

OF 

CHRISTIANITY, &c. 



The purity and excellence of the morality of the 
gofpel, and its unqueftionable tendency to pro- 
mote the beft interefts of fociety, both civil and 
religious, has been univerfally acknowledged, and 
is, in fact, altogether without a rival in the hiftory 
of mankind. Yet Chriftianity has not been exempt 
from being confidered as an impofture. In our 
own times, which have juftly been deemed more 
enlightened than any which have preceded them, 
perhaps from its infancy to the prefent moment, 
it hath been treated as fuch, not merely by the 
phrenzy of thofe who have been fuddenly let loofe 
from the wholefome reftraints of law and govern- 
ment, but by the cool and deliberate judgment of 
men of the moft enlarged and comprehenfive 
minds — by men who have profefled that they were 
diverted of all prejudice againft it, and impartial 
fearchers after truth. And it is much to be ap- 
prehended, that even of thofe who do profefs 
Chriftianity, there are but too many who have 
B embraced 



( « ) 

embraced it, not becaufe they are convinced of its 
truth, but becaufe it is the religion of the country 
in which they live j and becaufe they believe fome 
religion to be effential to the good order and hap- 
pinefs of fociety. 

To judge of the truth or falfhood of Chriftianfty, 
it is evidently neceflfary to underftand the book in 
which it is contained \ But if a judgment may be 
formed from the very different and oppofite opi- 
nions which have been held concerning it, and 
from the unfuccefsful labours of commentators upon 
it, this has been found to be ho eafy tafk. fc The 
labours of expoiitors and commentators/' fays the 
learned Bifhop Newton, very feelingly, cc which 
Were defigned for a remedy," to remove the diffi- 
culties of Scripture, i( are now become a part of 
the difeafe. The cafe is the fame with the laws of 
God as with the laws of the land, Read a flatute, 
and you will think you fufficiently underhand it, 
but afterwards hear the opinions of counfel upon it, 
and their explanations, and they will explain the 
meaning quite away : in like manner, many a text 

a If a perfon in reading the New Teftament does not un- 
derhand it, he will very ibon he induced to read it with in- 
difference, if not with difguft. It is to be hoped that the 
neglecl of the Scriptures, fo juftly complained of, arites more 
from this caufe than from an irreligious principle. Let it be 
rendered perfectly intelligible as to its great end and defign, 
and it muft create a powerful interest in the breafls of all but 
the profligate and unprincipled, if they are at all capable of 
judging of the nature of evidence. 



( 3 ) 

of fcripturd feemeth plain enough to a man upon 
his reading it by himfelf, and comparing it with 
the context j but upon confulting the tribe of pa- 
raphrafts and annotators, he fcarce knoweth what 
to think, and inftead of that one genuine fenfe 
which he conceived, he hath ten or twenty fenfes 
offered to him* or rather no fenfe at all. Com- 
mentators are a kind of neceffary evils ; there is 
no doing well without them or with them b ." 

It has likfe wife, been very judicioufly obferved 
by the Bifhop of LandafF, that " when men are 
defirous of forming fy (terns, they are apt to collect 
together a number of texts, which being taken as 
abftract propofitions, feem to eftablifh the point 3 
but which, when interpreted by the context, ap- 

b See Bifhop Newton's Differtation upon the Difficulties 
of Scripture, vol. vi. p. 220-1. 

" I begin to think," fays the author of Difcurfory Confi- 
derations on St. Luke's Preface, " that calmly, difpaflionately; 
and patiently to read the Icriptures, with an humble mind, a 
pure defire to benefit thereby, and a fin cere with to under- 
ftand the great credcnda and agenda therein contained, will 
make frequent reference to voluminous and highly learned 
commentators, in molt in fiances, unneceffary 3 and will fome- 
times enable us readily to comprehend, and fatisfaciorily to 
elucidate, palTagesj concerning the fuppofed difficulty of which 
asftuant commentatores." P. 7, 

It would, in my humble opinion, be a great imputation 
upon the Chriftian fcriptures if it did not. Whatever fuccefs 
I have had in illuftrating the fcriptues, I certainly do owe 
much more to the fcriptures themfelves than to commentators, 

B 2 pear 



( 4 ) 

pear to have no relation to it. There is no greater 
fource of error than this practice; it has prevailed 
in the Chriftian church fr©m the earlieft ages, and 
it ftill prevails. We owe to it the corruptions of 
Popery, and that infinity of herefies which have fo 
much debafed the fimplicky of gofpel truth, and 
driven fo many men of fenfe from embracing 
Chriftianity. Every one who will well weigh the 
fubject, muft perceive the unfairnefs with which 
men ufually proceed in forming fyftems in theo- 
logy. By ftringing together detached fentences,. 
an Aufonius may aOmpel the ehafte Virgil to fur- 
nifh materials for an indecent poem; and from the 
Bible itfelf, a fyftem of impiety might, by fuch 
means, be extracted c ." 

It is the principal object of this work to call 
the reader's attention to the only legitimate me- 
thod of doing juftice to the facred writings, and of 
afcertaining with preeifion,. their genuine meaning. 
The Gofpels are comedown to us in the form of 
hi/lories, and it will prefently appear, with an evi- 
dence not to be refilled, that they are hiftories of 
the controverfy between our Lord and the Jews 
concerning the true nature of the Meffiatis character , 
and whether he himfelf was the perfon who actually 
did fuftain that character.. If our faith in Chrilt 

* See Bifhop's Watfon's charge* delivered in 1795, p» 

79. 

he 



( 5 ) 

be rational and confiftent, it muft reft upon this 
foundation, and upon this foundation only d . 

From not having confidered the gofpel hiftory 
in this important point of view, one of the moft 
formidable objections has been brought againft the 
truth of Christianity, which is to be met with in the 

d Belides the evidence arifing from the Gofpel hiftories 
themfelves, of their being hiftories of the controverfy con- 
cerning the nature of the MeJjiaJi s character and whether Jefus 
himfelf was the Meffiah, the hiftory of the A£ts of the Apoftles 
contains numerous inftances of the fact. A6ts ii. 30. God 
hath made that fame Jefus whom ye have crucified both Lord and 
Meffiah. viii. 5. Then Philip ivent into a city of Samaria, and 
preached toy y^pLcrrov, the Meffiah to them. ix. 20. Paul preach- 
ed in the Synagogues roy ^fitrroy, the Meffiah. xvii. 3. This 
Jefus ivhom J preach unto you is O •^pia'T'og, the Messiah. 
xvii. 5.~ Paul tefilified to the Jews that Jejus -was fov XP i<rrov J 
the Meffiah. v. 28. Shelving from the fcriptures that Jefus was 
fov ^ptari'oy, the Meffiah. 

In the Epiftles, the capital article of a Chriftian's faith is, 
that Jefus was the Meffiah. 1 John ii. 22. Tfrfio is a liar if not 
he ivho denieth that Jefus is O ^picrrog, the Meffiah. V. 1. 
Whofoever believeth that Jefus is O %jpi&fQ$ 9 the Meffiah, is born 
of God. And, V. 5. Who is he that over comet h the world, but 
he that believeth that Jefus is the Son of God. Ephes. ii. 20. 
Chriftians are built upon the foundation of the Apoftles and Pro- 
phets, avrou lycrou ygwfov, Jefus the Messiah, being himfelf 
the chief corner Jione. 1 Cor. iii. 2. Other foundation can no 
man lay than that ivhich is laid, that Jefus is O y^pio-ros, the 
Meffiah. 2 Peter i. \Q. We have not followed cunningly devifed 
fables when we made known to you hyoc^iv, the miraculous 
power and coming of our Lord Jefus toy yjuvtov, the Meffiah. 

B 3 whole 



( 6 ) 

whole of its annals. It has, in exprefs terms, been 
afferted by the celebrated Mr. Gibbon, the very 
elegant and inftrutive hiftorian of the Decline and 
Fall of the Roman Empire, that f< in the primi- 
tive church, the influence of truth was very power- 
fully ftrcngthened by an opinion, which, however 
it may deferve refpect from its ufefulnefs and an- 
tiquity, has not been found to be agreeable to ex- 
perience. It was," he fays, " univerfally believed 
that the end of the world and the kingdom of hea- 
ven were at hand. The near approach of this won- 
derful event had been predicted by the Apoftles ; 
the tradition of it was preferved by their eariieft 
difciples, and thofe who underftood in their literal 
fe'nfe the difcourfes of Chrift himfelf, were obliged 
to expect the fecond and glorious coming of the 
Son of Man in the clouds before that generation, 
was totally extinguifhed which had beheld his 
humble condition upon earth, and which might 
{till be witnefs to the calamities of the Jews under 
Vefpafian or Hadrian. 1 he revolution of feven- 
teen centuries has inftructed us not to prefs too 
clofeiy the myfterious language of prophecy and 
"revelation." Mr. Gibbon adds with a lheer, which 
cannot eafily be miftaken : " But as long as, for 
wife purpofes, this error was permitted to fubfift 
in the church, it was productive of the molt falu- 
tary effects on the faith and practice of Chriftians., 
who lived in the awful expectation of that moment 

when 



( 7 ) 

when the globe itfelf, and all the various race of 
mankind, fhould tremble at the appearance of their 
divine judge V 

What renders this objection the more formidable 
is, that it really contains nothing more than is to 
be met with in the writings of Chriftians them- 
felves, and of thofe too of the higheft eminence 
and reputation for their knowledge of the facred 
writings. The learned Dr. Edwards, who lias 
'been defcribed as being pofTerled of a ftrong and 
elegant mind \ has, from the pulpit of the Uni- 
verfity of Cambridge, with great fairnefs and 
impartiality dated their fentiments upon this fub- 
jejft. " It may not," he fays, cc be thought won- 
derful that Baronius and other Romanics, to avoid 
the application of the Man of Sin, fhould earn eft] y 
contend that the fpeedy appearance of Chrift was 
expected by the Apoftles; (fee Mede's Works, 
p. 665) ; but it is fomewhat remarkable, that the or- 
thodox father of the celebrated prelate who tranflared 
Ifaiah, in a treatife defigned to confute a fuppofed 
latitudinarian, mould affent to the validity of our 
hiftorian's objection, by c on fe fling, without refer ve, 
that the Apoftles were miftaken. (See Lowth's 
Vindication, &c. p. 52.) Grotius infinuates, that 

« See Gibbon's Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
man Empire. Vol. i. p. 470 1. 4to. p. 300-1. vol. ii. 8vo. 

f See Mr. G. A. Thomas's Preface to his Sermon, entitled, 
<( The Predictions of Chrift and the Apoftles concerning the 
End of the World " P. viii. 

B 4 for 



( 8 ) 

for wife purpofcs the pious deception was permit- 
ted to take place j (Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 301. See 
Grotius de Veritat. lib. ii. § 6. Cleric, ad 1 Theff. 
v. 10.) And an ingenious profellor of our own 
univerfity does not appear to be extremely folicit- 
ous to relieve the Apoftles from the accufation of 
error. (See Dr. Watfon's Apology, p. 61.) But 
how far thefe concefiions may be founded on truth, 
can be difcovered only by an examination of thofe 
paffages which are ufually brought forward in the 
difcuflion of this fubject g ." 

In this examination, Dr. Edwards himfelf appears 
to have been fo far from being folicitous to relieve 
the Apoftles from the accufation of error, that, at 
the clofe of it, he fays* " I have now completed the 
examination of thofe paifages which I intended to 
notice > others might be added equally clear and 
determinate ; but thefe which I have felecled feem 
abundantly fufncient to eftablifh the juftnefs of 
Mr. Locke's opinion, (vide ad 1 Cor. v. 3.) that 
the Apoftles expected, in their own time, the end 
of the world and the appearance of Chrift. It be- 
comes therefore," he adds, " the antagonift of our 
hiftorian, moft earneftly to confider whether the 
real interefts of Chriftianity would not be more 
efientially promoted by conceding the objection to 

s See the Predictions of the Apoftles concerning the End 
of the World. A Sermon preached before the Univerfity of 
Cambridge,, May 23, 1/90, by Thomas Edwards, L.L.D. 
p. 12 13. 

his 



( 9 ) 

his adverfary, than by vainly attempting to remove 
it. We need not be apprehenfive that any injurious 
confequences will arife from the conceflion, for as 
our ingenious Profellor very candidly acknow- 
ledges, (p. 64), the Apoirles might furely be pro- 
per witneiTes of the life and refurreclion of Jefus, 
though they were ignorant of the precife time 
when he would come to judge the world h ." 

A very learned writer, in a private corre- 
spondence, has thus exprefTed his fentiments 
upon the fubjec"t. " I cannot help thinking 
that the primitive ChriPcians, and perhaps even 
the Apoftles, did expect the day of judgment to be 
near at hand, I think that fome of St. Paul's ex- 
pressions will hardly admit of any other interpreta- 
tion." And, what is itill more remarkable, the 
late Reverend Newcome Cappe, who certainly de- 
dicated a large portion of a long life to the ftudy 
of the facred writings, has boldly afferted, that 
" St. Paul had no conception even of the exiftence 
of the church on earth, after the abolition of the 

h See Dr. Edwards's Sermon, p. 35-6. 

Query. — Could Dr. Edwards be ferious when he faid this ? 
To me it appears thatfuch languageis utterly inexcufable, and 
unworthy of the character of a man; for no one who poffefTes 
an atom of impartiality can entertain a doubt, that if the ob- 
jection, as fiated by Mr. Gibbon, be well founded, Christianity 
muft be an impofture. Dr. Hammond, long ago obferved, 
that Mahomet having promifed, after his death, he would 
prefently return to life again, and having not performed his 
promife in a thoufand years, is by us jutUy confidered as an 
importer. 

Mofaic 



( io ) 

Mofaic economy," u e. after the deduction of Je- 
rufalem l . 

With refpeel to that part of Mr. Gibbon's ob- 
jection which concerns our Lord himfelf, it has 
been faid with great confidence, and with as much 
appearance of coolnefs and unconcern, as if Cr.rif- 
tianity could not in the fmaiieft degree be affected 
by it y <f We find it very evident that our Lord is 
recorded by his hifforians, Matthew, Mark, and 
Luke, to have declared that his Jecond coming was 
cne of thofe events which would happen during 
the lives of his cotemporaries. We find ourfelves 
obliged to make this conceuion, and let Mr. Gib- 
bon make every advantage of it that he can V 

Such are the opinions and conceffions of Chrifr 

1 See Mr. Cappe's Critical Remarks on many important 
PaiTages of Scripture, Vol. I. p. 18/. Mr. Cappe fays, 
" This does not feem to be the cafe with Peter; there are no 
traces of any fuch conceptions in his writings, but rather of 
the contrary." Ibid, Here it is obvious to remark, that St. 
Paul was not a whit behind the chief of the Apofles : and he 
exprefsly fays, that, in conference, even Peter could add nothing 
to what he knew of the Chriftian revelation. See Gal. ii. 6. 
Betides, the fact is, that there are in the Epiftles of St. Peter, 
full as ftrong traces of tbeie conceptions, according to the ge- 
nerally received opinion, as in the Epiftles of St. Paul. 

k See the Theological E.epofltory, Vol. VI. p. J 62. This 
volume being the lalt of that publication, this conception, fo 
far as appears, was not attempted to be refuted; and it is not, 
I think, unfair to prefume that the conductor of that work 
was unequal to the talk, other wife he could not, or at lea ft 
ought not, to have withheld it from public attention. 

tian. 



( » ) 

tian writers upon this fubjedt; which, I may venture 
to affirm, never could have exifted, if the gofpel 
hiftory had been confidered as an hiftory> and par- 
ticularly as an hiftory of the great controveriy 
between our Lord and the Jews concerning the 
true nature of the Meffiati $ character. But it is an 
obfervation as true as it is old, that the affaults of 
infidels, and not unfrequently the miftakes and in- 
confiderate conceffion^ of the friends of Chriftian- 
ity, have been highly favourable to its belt inte- 
refts, in caufing it to be more clofely examined, 
and more fully understood, than it otherwife would 
have been. And there is not, perhaps, in the 
whole compafs of theological controverfy, a fingle 
inftance in which fo much advantage will accrue 
to the Chriftian caufe, as by a thorough inveftiga- 
tion of the language of Scripture upon which this 
objection is founded ; for it will necefTarily lead to 
the eftablifhment of the principal object of this 
work, the only legitimate method of ftudying the 
original records of Chriftianity. 

Although we are not precifely informed upon 
what pafTages Mr. Gibbon has founded his objec- 
tion, yet I think it muft be evident that, when he 
fays it was univerfally believed that the end of the 
world and the kingdom of heaven were at hand, and 
that thofe who underftood, in their literal fer.fe, the 
difcourfes of Chriil himfelf, were obliged to ex- 
pect the Jeccnd and glorious coming cf the Son of Man 

in 



( A ). 

in the clouds, before that generation was totally ex- 
tinguifhed which had beheld his humble condition 
upon earth, he founded his afTertion upon our 
Lord's primary declaration that the kingdom of hea- 
ven was at hand, and upon his fubfequent affur- 
ances that they Jhould not have gone over the cities of 
Ifrael till the Son of Man came — that there were Jome 
then living who jhould not tafte of death till they Jaw 
the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, and that they 
flwuld fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
heaven. 

As to our Lord's primary declaration, that the 
kingdom of heaven was at hand, we find, upon look- 
ing into the gofpel hiftory, that it was a language 
which had previously been adopted by his fore- 
runner, John the Baptift, who called the attention 
of his countrymen to its near abroach, in thefe 
terms, Matt. iii. 2. Repent ye ; for the kingdom of 
heaven is at band. And when our Lord himfelf 
entered upon his important office, he clofely ad- 
hered to the fame language, chap. iv. 17. From 
that time, i. e. as appears from the 1 2th verfe, 
from the time that John was thrown into prifon, 
began J ejus to preach, and to fay, Repent-, for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand. When afterwards he 
commiffioned his dilciples to preach in his name, 
his inftrudlions to them wxre, to fay to his country- 
men, chap. x. 7. As ye go, preach, faying, The 

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. Their pub- 
lic 



( IJ ) 

lie inftructions are likewife ftyled, Preaching the 
kingdom of God. 1 Thus, Mark i. 14. Jefus is 
said to go into Galilee preaching the kingdom of 
God. In Matt. ix. 35, it is faid, Jefus went about 
all the cities and villages teaching in their Jynagogv.es, 
and 'preaching to gv&yyshiov m; fix<ri\snx,<; the gos- 
pel; or rather, as it ought to have been rendered,, 
the good news of the kingdom. 

It would betray the gronefb ignorance of the 
meaning of this language, to interpret it, oj the 
Juture and ev>rlajling kingdom, to be eftablifried at 
the end of the world ; for though, in its dengn, it 
evidently has a reference to it, yet it as evidently 
has an immediate and direct reference to the near 
approach of the kingdom cj the Mejfiah, foretold by 
the ancient prophets, and more particularly by the 
prophet Daniel, in his prophecy of the feventy 
weeks, then juft expiring, and in his fubfequent 
prediction, that the God of heaven would Jet up a 
kingdom that fhould never be defrayed. 

The ufe of this language of J ohn the Baptin% 
and of our Lord, as connected with the ancient 
prophecies upon the fubject of the coming of the 
kingdom of the Mejfiah, appears, from the account 
of the evangelical hiftorians, to have had a very 
fenfible and powerful effect upon the Jewifh nation-, 

1 From comparing thefe parages together, it appears evi- 
dently that the phrafes, the kingdom of hea t ven i and the king- 
dom of God, are fynonymous. St. Matthew chiefly ufes the 
former expreffion, the other evangelifts the latter. 

which 



( U ) 

which they have not failed to point out, in fuch 
very ftrong terms, as to leave no room to doubt 
in what fenfe they underftood it; for, when John 
fir ft adopted it, St. Matthew fays, chap. iii. 5. 
that Jerufalem and all Judea, and all the region round 
about Jordan*, went out to meet bim> and were bap- 
tized by him in Jordan, confejfing their fins. And 
St. Luke ftates, in terms the moft explicit and de- 
cifive, the reafon of their thus flocking to him, in 
fo general a manner, in confequence of the ufe of 
this "language ; for he fays, chap. iii. 15. that as 
the people were in expectation of the appearance of 
the Mefiiah, all men mujed in their hearts of John y 
whether he was O x#iroq the Chrifl, or the Meffiah, 
or not. In like manner, when our Lord went about 
all Galilee preaching the good news of the 
kingdom, the hiftorian fays, that there followed 
him great multitudes of people •> from Galilee, from 
Decapolisy from Jerufalem 3 from Judea, and from 
beyond Jordan \ evidently, from the fame expecta- 
tion, (as they were difappointed in John the Bap- 
lift) that he might be the Meffiah* 

This general expectation of the Meffiah, at the 
time of our Lord's appearance, is fo well authen- 
ticated by the gofpel hiftorians, that all defcriptions 
of Chriftian writers entertain, precifely, the fame 
opinion upon the fubjedb. 

Dr. Sykes has obferved, that cc the Jews were 
fo well acquainted with this language, and were fo 
well apprized of a kingdom which God had re- 

folved 



( 15 ) 

folved to fet up, that as often as Jefus talked of" 
the kingdom of heaven, or of God, neither the people 
nor their rulers ever offered to afk him the mean- 
ing of that phrafe, which yet we cannot fuppofe 
them not to have done, if he had talked with and 
to them in a language they were unacquainted 
with. ,,rn 

Bifhop Chandler fays, " The expectation of the 
Median, intimated in the ufe of this language, was 
not the opinion of a few devout people only, who 
are faid to wait for the confolation of Ifrael at the 
time of our Saviour's birth; or of the meaner fort, 
who thought the kingdom of God (a phrafe for the 
kingdom of the Mefilah) fhould immediately ap- 
pear ; but it was the fettled judgment of the chief 
priefts, and the learned in their law. They who 
made the ftudy of the fcriptures their chief bufinefs, 
were unanimous in this belief •> the expectation was 
national." 11 , 

Dr. White, the very learned Bamptonian lec- 
turer, fpeaking upon this fubject, fays, <c It is very 
evident, from Several paflages in the New Tefta- 
ment, that the jews were in expectation of the 
Median- at the time of Chrift's appearance. The 

m See Dr. Sykes on the Chriltlan Religion, p, 29. 

R See BiiTiop Chandler's Defence of Chriftianity, vol. 1. 
p. 5. The Bifhop adds, that " whenever they faw or heard 
of any quality, great or extraordinary in its kind, they turned 
their eyes that way, hoping that the pofTeffor of thofe quali- 
ties might be the man they looked for/ 1 

woman 



( 1« ) 

woman of Samaria, though of a fchifmatical church, 
yet deriving her knowledge from the fame fources 
of divine prophecy, faid to Jefus, / know that 
Mejfiah cometh, &c. John iv. 25. In Luke iii. 5. 
We, are informed that the preaching of John was of 
fo divine a nature, that all men mujed in their hearts 
whether he was the Chrift, or not. The meflage of 
the Jews by the priefts and Levites to John, Art 
thou the Chrift? is a fufficient proof of the expec- 
tation which generally prevailed of the advent of a 
divine perfon fuftaining this character. John i. 9. 
The coming of the Meffiah made an exprefs article of 
the Jewifh faith, as we are informed by Maimo- 
nides, and others of that church ; and the denial 
of it was deemed a dangerous herefy, and a virtual 
renunciation of the authority of the law of Mofes." 

From thefe accounts it appears, I think, with 
an evidence bordering upon demonftration, that 
the fynonymous phrafes, the kingdom of heaven, and 
the kingdom of God, mentioned in the beginning of 
the gofpel hiftory, relate exclufively to the kingdom 
of the Mejfiah ; and that his declaration that it was 
at hand, appeals as dearly to mean> that the Mef- 
fiah' s kingdom was then about to be eftablifhed. 

It appears, however, from the fame hiftory, that 
the Jews in general, and our Lord's own difciples in 
particular, held very erroneous notions concerning 
the nature of the Meffiah' s charatler, viewing him as 
a temporal prince, who was to refcue them from the 
yoke of the Romans, to whom they were then fub- 

jecl, 



( »7 ) 

jedfc, and to raife them, as a nation, to the dif- 
tinguilhed pre-eminence of being the lords of the 
world. 

This fact, likewife, is fo well ftated, from the 
Chriftian records, by the learned, that no apology 
will be necefTary for prefenting their fentiments 
upon it. <c In the perfon of the Median," fays 
Dr. White, " they beheld a mighty and glorious 
king, who mould appear with all the pomp of 
temporal greatnefs, and all the terrors of earthly 
power, trampling upon the enemies and opprefTors 
of Ifrael, and leading forth his people amidft the 
triumphs of conquest and the fplendour of domi- 
nion. The manifeil expiration of the time pre- 
fcribed by the prophets, the departure of the fcep* 
tre from Judah, and the fubjection of their country 
to the Roman power, were circumftances which, 
at this time, added new ftrength to the opinion 
which had thus been endeared to them by early 
prejudice, and fanctifled by authoritative tradition. 
Every heart was now warmed with hope, and 
every eye looked forward with anxious expectation 
to the moment when the glory of Zion mould 
appear, and Judea be for ever exalted above the 
kingdoms of the earth when they mould behold 
fuppliant nations crouding into the fanctuary, and 
Rome herfelf, the haughty miftrefs of the world, 
bowing proftrate at the feet of Jerufalem. 

<c Nor were thefe glorious expectations confined 
to the chief rulers of the Jews, whofe fuperior 

C {rations 



( '8 ) 

ftations feemins: to entitle them to- the fir ft honours 
and emoluments of the Meffiah's kingdom, might 
have induced them the more readily to embrace, 
and the more induftrioufly to diffeminate an opi- 
nion which promifed fo complete a gratification to 
their ambition. Even the difeiples of our Lord, 
who had been, in general, felected from the lowed 
and the meaneft of the people, long retained the 
fame delufive opinion, and indulged the fame fal- 
lacious hopes with the reft of their countrymen. 

4C Nay, fo firmly was this belief impreffed upon 
their minds, that not all the frequent and folemn 
declarations of their matter to the contrary, were 
able to efface it entirely from their minds. Nor, 
indeed, do they feem to have been effectually 
roufed from the pleafing dream of temporal gran- 
deur which had captivated their imaginations, till 
his death had tried the conftancy of their faith, till 
his refurrecti )n had revived their drooping fpirits, 
and his afcenfion into heaven had rectified their er- 
rors and invigorated their refolution. 

fC From this miftakea opinion arofe the frequent 
ftrtiggles for fuperiority among them, which they 
have fo ingenuoufly recorded. Hence the petition 
of the mother of Zebedee's children. Hence, too, 
the impatient and miiguided zeal of Peter, who, 
when Chrift pathetically related his approaching 
humiliation, his Offerings and his death, took him 
and began to rebuke him, faying, Be it far from 
thee. Lord i tin fiallmt he unto thee. 

< f To 



( i9 ) 

tc To this may be added the words of one of the 
difciples, with whom our Lord, in his way to Em- 
maus, converfed after his refurredtion. We trufted 
that it had been he who Jhcidd have redeemed Iff tie fr. 
This reflection arofe from the fame prejudice that 
had long flattered the national vanity, and exprefled 
the moft painful fenfe of disappointment." 0 

To the fame purpofe, the learned Dr. Lardner 
having obferved that the expectation of thcMefliah, 
about the time of the appearance of Jefus, was 
univerfal, and had been fo for fome while, adds, 
that <c with the idea of a prophet, or extraordinary 
teacher of religion, they had alfo joined that of a 
worldly king and conqueror, who fhould deliver 
the Jewifh people from the burdens under which 
they laboured, raife them to a flate of inde- 
pendence, and bring the nations of the earth into' 
fubjection to them, to be ruled and tyrannized 
over by them. And becaufe our Lord did not 
perform nor attempt this, they rejected and cruci- 
fied him. If he would but have a (Turned the ftate 
and character of an earthly prince, fcribes and pha^ 
rifees, priefts and people, would all have joined 
themfelves to him, and have put themfelves under 
his banner. Of this we fee many proofs in the 
gofpels. This ciifpofition prevailed to the lafL" ? 
To thefe tefti monies I mult beg leave to add 

0 See Dr. Whites Bampton Lectures, p. 114 to 118. 
p See Lardr.er's Ancient Jewifli and Heathen Teftimonies, 
Vol. i. p, 6g. 4to. 

C 2 that 



( 20 ). 

that of the late Dr. Paley, who was fecond to no 
man in the knowledge of the facred writings. 
" The Jewifh people, 5 ' fays he, u wkhj or with- 
out reafon, had worked themfelves into a per- 
fuafion that fome fignal and greatly advantageous 
change was to be effected in the condition of their 
country, by the agency of a long-promifed mef- 
fenger from heaven. The rulers of the Jews, their 
leading feci, their priefthood, had been the authors 
of this perfuafion to the common people. So that 
it was not merely the conjecture of theoretical di- 
vines, or the feeret expectation of a few reclufe 
devotees 3 but it was become the popular hope and 
paffion, and, like all other popular opinions, un- 
doubting and impatient of contradiction. They 
clung to this hope under every misfortune qf their 
country, and with more tenacity as their dangers 
or calamities increafed." q 

It 

See Dr. Paley' s Evidences of the Chriftian Religion, vol. i. 
p. 22-3. 

I hope I fhall be excufed if I add what Mr. Maltby has 
fa id upon the fubjecl, " The Jews," he fays, " were in al- 
inoft daily expectation of a chofen prophet from heaven, who 
inould be armed with power to deliver them from their ene- 
mies, affert the fupeiioiity as well as permanence of the Mo- 
faic inftitutions, and extend over all the world the empire of 
the fons of Abraham. Thefe opinions and expectations, it 
mnft be remembered, were rivetted with the greater force, 
and indulged with the lefs fcruple, as they conceived them to 
be founded upon the will of the Almighty : } and confequently 
that their opinions could not be wrong, nor their expectations 

fruftrated- 



C 2. ) 

It muft afford peculiar fatis faction to the in- 
quirer after truth, that the general expectation of 
a perfon who fhould obtain — or who ihould en* 
deavour to obtain univerfal rule, does not alto- 
gether reft upon the evidence of the facred writ- 
ing . 

The celebrated Jofephus, who was himfelf a 
Jew and a diftinguifned general, in the early part 
of the Jewifh war which terminated in the total 
deftruclion of Jerufalem, and confequently was 
perfectly well acquainted with the fentiments of 
his countrymen, exprefsly fays, that <c that which 
chiefly excited the Jews to the war was an ambi- 
guous prophecy, which was alfo found in their 
facred books that, at that time, fome one within 
their country (hould arife that fhould obtain the 
empire of the world." Tacitus likewife, the 
Roman annalift, mentions the fame perfuafion as 
having exifted at that period, and particularly, 
that it was found in the ancient books of the 
priefcs. And, he adds that, " this prediction had 
taken fuch full poffeflion of the common people 
among the Jews, that they were not compelled to 

fruftrated. Nor were thefe the cafual fentiments of the vul- 
gar and unthinking, or the laboured interpretations of the 
ltudious only $ but they were the collective and unanimous 
fentiments of the whole body of the peopJe ; infomuch that 
there probably were but few fufficiently enlightened, and fuf- 
ficiently unprejudiced, not to participate in them." See 
SJaltby's Illuftrations, p. 81. 

C 3 refign 



( 22 ) 

redgn their dependence upon this prophecy, but 
by a feries of calamities/' And molt remarkable 
to the fame purpofe, are the words of Suetonius, 
A conftant opinion prevailed throughout the earl 
that it was predicted by the fates that, at that time* 
the Jews would become the lords of all. 

The teftimony of writers of fuch high re- 
fpeclability in the ancient world, cannot bur be 
efteemed of confiderable importance in eftabli fil- 
ing the evidence of the facts related in the gofpel 
hiftory. And that thefe fads fh ou Id be confirmed 
by a writer who denies that there is any evidence 
worth noticing of the very exiftence p of the au- 
thor 

p That in the Auguftan age there ftouriihed in judea an 
extraordinary perfon called Jefas Chrift, is a fact better fup- 
ported, fays an able writer,, than that there lived fuch men as 
Cyrus, Alexander^ and Julius Csefar. For there are more 
hiftorical monuments to atteft his exiftence and character, ancl 
infinitely more numerous and inconteftable veftiges in the 
prefent day to prove that there was fuch a perfon as Chrift, 
than that there ever lived in pall ages fuch potent monarchs 
and illuftrious conquerors. As certainly as Chriftianity is now 
exifting in the world, fo certainly did its founder and pub- 
Jifher fometime exifr. The public monuments, which the 
renowned heroes of antiquity left behind, are long fince pe- 
rifhed : the magnificent palaces they built., the fupeib ftruc- 
tnres they reared, the grand temples and maufoleums they 
erected, the opulent cities they founded, are now now no 
more. Few remaining vifible traces are left of the battles 
they fought, the empires they eftablimed, the fy items of laws 
they compiled, and the univerfel devaftation they once fpread 

around 



( 23 ) 

thor of our religion, is not a little remarkable — 
but tetfi is the fact. Mr. Volney himfelF, the 

daring 

around them: the kingdoms they once conquered, have, by 
the inftabllity of human condition, undergone many revo- 
lutions, have repeatedly loft, and repeatedly gained their 
liberty, and experienced all thoft reveries to which teixef- 
trial glory is fuhj^cted. The curious traveller "explores large 
regions in fearch of ftanding records of the greatnefs of for- 
mer princes, traverfes immenfe countries, once the feat ol 
icience and liberty, noiv the abode of barbarifm and flavery \ 
mice f warming with inhabitants, and variegated with unnum- 
bered towns and villages, nozv a dreary inhofpitabh folitudej 
and even fearches, but in vain, for cities and temples and 
palaces in the very fituation where they once flood. Baby- 
lon is now fallen! — Peifepolis and Ecbatana are now no 
more ! — and travellers have long difputed, but not been able 
to afcertain, the fcite of ancient Nineveh, that exceeding- 
great city, of three days journey. Few are the prefent figna- 
tures, in minor Alia and India, of Alexander's victorious arms 5 
few are the ftanding memorials in Gaul and Britain to evince 
that there was fuch a perfon as Julius Coeiar, who fubdued 
the one, and invaded the other. But that there was fuch a 
perfon as Jems Chrift, who lived, died, and rpfe again, and 
founded a fpiritual empire of religion, the prefent .ftate of 
all the republics and kingdoms in Europe demonftrates. The 
cuftorns and ufages, that obtain in every nation, neceffarily 
imply a caufe and a reafon, to which they owe their prigin, 
and fuppofe a date, from which they commenced. Reli- 
gious inftkutiqns universally regarded, religious folemnities. 
umverfally celebrated, lead the inquiring mind through pari 
ages to the period at which they began, to the perfon or per- 
fons who eftabiifhed them, and to the fources from which 
they flowed. All national ufages are public monuments of 

C 4 fads, 



( «4 ) 

daring and intrepid Mr. Volney, is compelled, by 
the force of truth, to own the general expectation 
of a temporal deliverer to come. 

" From 

fads, and are flanding proofs, through all fucceffivc times, 
that the persons, whofe memory they thus embalm, and the 
events, whofe importance they thus record, once actually 
exifted. We fee great numbers of vaft and populous king- 
doms around us, all unanimoufly agreed in baptizing their 
offspring in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 
in commemorating the author and finiiher of our faith by 
the memorials of bread and wine; in worfhipping the Deity 
through a Mediator ; in appropriating the fir ft day of the 
week to religious worfhip j and in folemnizing the nativity, 
death, refurre&ion, and afcenfion of the author of our 
religion. How {hall we account for infiitutions and ufages 
univerfally received in Europe, and univerfally pra&ifed by 
all the various churches, feels, and denominations, every 
where exifting ? They were not inftituted in the prefent 
age — they did not commence in the times of our immediate 
anceftors. We find we can follow the facred ftream even 
beyond its fource into ages, when no fuch enftoms prevailed, 
when there was no fuch religion as Chrijtianity , and when 
Pagan idolatry and Judaijm univerfally reigned. As certainly, 
therefore, as the prefent ftate of the Jews, their tenets, their 
ceremonious obfervances, their peculiar cuftoms, their difper- 
fion into all the nations of the world, yet remaining a diftinCt, 
feparate body through all the infinite changes and revolutions 
that affect kingdoms and communities, is an inconteftible 
proof, that there was fuch a legiflator as Mofes : fo certain 
is the conclufion from the Hated folemn rites, that now uni- 
verfally obtain among all Chr'ijlian countries, that there once 
Sourifhed fuch a law-giver as Jefus Chrift, who founded that 

religion 



( *S ) 



<r From the time," he fays, " that the A {Tynans 
had deftroyed the kingdom of Samaria, fome fa- 
gacious fpirits forefaw, announced, and predicted^ 
the fame fate to Jerufalem ; and all their predictions 
were (lamped by this particularity, that they al- 
ways concluded with prayers for a happy re-eftab- 
lifhment and regeneration, which were, in like 
manner, fpoken of, in the way of prophecies. 
The enthufiafm of the Hierophants had figured a 
royal deliverer, who was to re-efcablim the nation 
in its ancient glory. The Hebrews were again to 
become a powerful and conquering people, and 
Jerufalem, the capital of an empire that was to 
extend over the whole world. Events having 
realized the firft part of thofe predictions, the ruin 
of Jerufalem, the people clung to the fecond with 
a firmnefs of belief proportioned to their misfor- 
tunes, and the afflicted Jews waited with the im- 
patience of want and defire for that victoriou: king 
and deliverer that was to come, in order to fave 
the nation of Mofes and reftore the throne to Da- 
vid." See Volney's Ruins, 3d edition, p. 285-6. 

Such are the various and accumulated evidences 
of the truth of thefe facts, in fo full a manner at- 
tefted by almoft every page of the gofpei hiftory, 
that, I think, they may juftly be confidered as indif- 

religion fo many nations have efpoufed, and who inflituted 
thofe fokmnities and cujioms we fee univerfally obferved by all 
who profefs his gofpei. Harwood's Introduction, p. 1 — 6. 



putable. 




( 26 ) 

putable. And it is particularly deferving of notice, 
that thefe facts have for their vouchers, all modem 
Jews, for they entertain precifely the fame fenti- 
ments, and as ChriftiaBS term them, the fame pre- 
judices concerning them, with their remote ancef- 
tors, and, confequently, they are fo far living wit- 
•nej/es that they are facts which are built upon fuch 
a folid foundation of genuine hifiorical evidence ; 
which is the beft evidence, next to that of fight, 
which can be offered to the human mind; leav- 
ing no justifiable room for doubt or unbelief. 

From thefe premifes, thus amply authenticated, 
it will, I think, naturally and neceffariiy follow, 
not only that our Lord's original declaration, that 
the kingdom cf heaven was at handy related to the 
near abroach of the Meffml/s Bngdom> and, confe- 
quently, that Mr. Gibbon was miftaken when he 
fuppofed it related to his Jscond coming in the ge- 
neration in which he lived — but that the. gofpel 
biftcry> if it be genuine, muft be an hiftory of the 
great controverfy between our Lord and the Jews 
concerning the true nature of the Mejfiah's character. 
As fuch, I am fully perfuaded it was intended to 
be confidered, as affording a rational foundation 
for our belief in him as the true MeJJSab. By 
viewing it in this light, it will, if I miftake not, 
be found to exhibit internal characters of truth, 
equal to that of any other hiftory, whether in an- 
cient or modern times, and it will afford evidence 
fufficient to afcertain the precife meaning of the 
7 whole . 



C 27 ) 

whole of our Lord's fubfequent language, from 
which Mr. Gibbon has been induced to fuppofe 
that he predated his fe:ond coming m the generation 
in which he Jived, to judge all mankind 5 fufficient, 
in a word, to prove to the fatisfaction of every un- 
prejudiced and impartial inquirer, that the lan- 
guage which he adopted, naturally arofe from the 
nature of his claim to the char abler of the MeJJiah, 
and from his controverfy with his countrymen 
concerning it. 

By viewing the gofpel hiftory in this light, it 
mud, I think, appear extremely obvious, that 
- having none of thofe proofs to offer, of his fuf- 
taining the char abler of the Meffiah> which the Jews, 
one and ail, the difciples of Jefus themfelves not 
excepted, invariably affixed to it, viz, that of his 
being a temporal prince, it was not in our Lord's 
power, on his firit entrance on his public miniftiy, 
to avow himfelf as the MeJJiah, or to fay that, as 
Juch, -he was already come, not even to his own 
Difciples, without effectually defeating the great 
and important purpofes of his minion and expof- 
ing himfelf to inevitable deftruction. 

The only conduct which the nature and circum- 
(lances of his fituation permitted him to purfue 
was, to keep up their expectations of his declar- 
ing, at a proper time, that he was the Meffiah ; by 
working fuch miracles as, in their own nature, 
were calculated to make a ftrong imprtffion upon 
their minds that he was, at leaft, an extraordi?iary 

psrjonage ; 



C 9* ) 

perfonage-, by giving them fuch inductions as had 
a tendency gradually to corred their prejudices 
concerning the nature of the MejfiaFs character \ and 
by unfolding to them fuch events, as they were 
able to bear them, as were incompatible with 
their ideas of the nature of the Meffiah 1 s character \ 
thofe, particularly, which related to his own fuf- 
ferings and death, and to the fate which awaited 
them as a nation. 

If the gofpel hiftory be examined with atten- 
tion, our Lord's firft object appears to have been 
to convince his countrymen that he was, at lead, 
an extraordinary perf onager working of the mod 
aftonilhing and ftupenduous miracles, fuch as no 
man had ever before done. St. Matthew informs 
us, ch. iv. 23, 24, in the clofefi: connection with 
his declaration, that Jefus went about all Galilee 
teaching in their fynagogues, and preaching the good 
news of the kingdom , i. e. of the kingdom of the Mef- 
fiah ; that he healed all manner of ficknefs and all 
manner of difeafe among the people ; that his fame 
went throughout all Syria j and that they brought 
unto him all Jick people that were taken with divers 
difeafes and torments, and thoje which were poffeffed 
with devils or demons, and thofe which were luna^ 
tic, and thofe that had the palfy, and that he healed 
them. So, in chap. ix. after a relation of a great 
variety of aftonifhing miracles, the hiftorian con- 
cludes the narration, by a general obfervation, 
what was his ufual manner j ver, 35, And Jefus 

went 



( *9 ) 

went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their 
Synagogues and preaching the good news of the king- 
dom of the Mefliah, and healing every ficknefs and 
every kind of difeafe among the people. In a word, 
whoever pays the fmalleft attention to the gof- 
pel hiftory, as fuch, will fee blended with our 
Lord's inftructions, a profufion of miracles of the 
mo ft aftonifhing nature, infomuch that the fpec- 
tators afked, When O %piro$ the Chrifi, or the 
Median, cometh — will he do more miracles than this 
man doth? See John vii. 3 1. 

But the propriety of confidering the gofpel 
hiftory as an hiftory of the controverfy between 
our Lord and the Jews, concerning the true nature 
of the Meffiah's char abler, will-ftill more diftinclly 
appear, if we attend to his inftructions, which 
were intended gradually to correct their prejudices 
concerning it. Our Lord's fermon upGn the 
Mount, and, more particularly, the beatitudes 
with which it commences, is a remarkable fpe- 
cimen of this kind, and will be well deferring of 
particular attention more efpecially as there are 
fome parts of it, the beauty and fmgular pro- 
priety of which, feem, in a great meafure, to have 
efcaped the notice of the Chriftian world. 

As the prejudices which it was our Lord's object 
to correct were common to the whole Jewiih na- 
tion, his Difciples themfelves not excepted, it is na- 
tural to fuppofe that it would have been addrefted 
to the multitude at large, and not excluftvely, as 

fome 



( 30 1 

fome have imagined, to the /fpoftles. "The evan- 
gelic.-; hiftorian, St. Matthew, has been very par- 
ticular in dating this to have been the fact:; for, 
at the clofe of the chapter immediately preceding 
the fermon upon the LVicunt. after having bfefved 
that J ejus went about Galilee, preaching the good 
news of the kingdom, i.e. of the kingdom of the 
Meiliah, he fays, ch. iv. 25, there followed him 
gre tT multitudes of people from Galilee, 
from Decayolis, from Jerufale?n, from Judea, and 
from beyond Jordan. And, in the beginning of the 
fifth chapter, -the hiftorian .fays, that feeing the 
multitudes which flocked to him from thefe dif- 
ferent places, he went up upon a mountain, and ad- 
drefTed this fermon to them. It is true indeed, 
the hiftorian adds, that when Jefus was feated, 
his disciples came to him ; but, not to lay any 
ftrefs upon the common obfervation, that the 
term Bifciples is often in- the New Teftament ufed 
in a very enlarged fenfe, this only proves, what 
will not be controverted, that the Dfciples made a 
part of his audience. But this matter appears to 
be put out of all reafonabie doubt, by the his- 
torian's remark, at the clofe of the fermon; for 
he fays, ch. viii. i, that when he was cotiie down 
from the mountain great multitudes followed 
him. 

It being then clear, from this reprefentation of 
the evangel!: 1 , that the fermon upon the mount 
was addreffed to the people at large and not exclu- 

fively 



( 3i ) 

fively to the Difciples, it will, upon examination, 
appear equally clear, thac it was our Lord's firft 
object, in this fermon, to correct the erroneous 
opinions of his hearers concerning the true nature 
of the MeffiaFs kingdom. This I think will be 
abundantly evident, from the following fhort pa- 
raphrafe of the Beatitudes. 

The Jews, in confequence of their expectation 
that their Meffiah would be a temporal prince, to 
lead them to conqueft and to empire, naturallv 
enough entertained the fond, imagination of en- 
joying high diftinclion and poflfefling places of 
great tru ft and importance under his reign". But 
our Lord, who was thoroughly acquainted with 
the human heart, inftead of directly attacking 
their prejudices, upon this head, by laying that 
fuch an ambitious turn of mind was contrary to 
the character which became the fubjects of the Mef- 
Jiah's kingdom, wifely contented him'felf with fimply 
defcribing the difpofition which would qualify 
them for becoming fuch ; ver. 3, Blejfed — or hap- 
py, are they who are peer in fpirit — or who are 
unambitious and humble minded ; for their s is the 
kingdom of heaven. 

With the poftefficn of univerfal dominion under 
their Meffiah, the Jews, it is probable, connected 
great worldly pleafures and enjoyments of every 
kind, and the mod unbounded national profperity. 
But our Lord, knowing their extreme depravity as 
'a nation, and forefeeing the awful calamities which 

were 



C 32 ) 

were about to happen to their country, taught 
them that a ftate of forrow and humiliation was 
better fuited to the circumflances of the times, and 
more agreeable to his original declaration, that 
repentance was a preparation abfolutely neceffary in 
perfons of their defcription, if they really wifhed 
to enjoy the benefits of the Mejfiah's kingdom, fo 
anxioufly expected by them. Verfe 4. Blejfed are 
they that mourn \ for they Jhall be comforted. In the 
midft of the calamities which are coming upon the 
Jews as a nation, they lhall have their peculiar 
coniblations, arifing from the enjoyment of the 
ineftimable blefTings of the MeJJiah's kingdom ; while 
thofe who have in view no higher objects than 
worldly pleafures under his reign, mail not only 
have their expectations completely frustrated, but 
be involved in the general ruin which is approach- 
ing. 

The Jews confidered a warlike fpirit in their 
nation as eflential to the promotion of their ambi- 
tious views, with refpecl to the conquefls which, 
under the banners of their MelTiah, they expected 
to make, in order to their becoming the Lords of 
the world. But to this our Lord oppofed a fpirit 
which, both in its principle and in its effects, was 
totally different. BleJJed are the meek 5 for they fhall 
inherit the earth. This meeknefs of temper, and 
patience under injuries and provocations, will en- 
able them to weather many a ftorm which would 
bear down the haughty and obftinate, and render 

them 



( 33 ) 

them capable of the full enjoyment of the blefTings 
which this world affords. 

The Jews were thirfting for exemption from the 
fervitude which they were then under to the Ro- 
mans, and ftill more to conquer and fubdue themj 
and their ambition was not to be fatiated but by 
their obtaining, under the reign of their Mej/iah, an 
univerfal empire over the whole world. But our 
Lord endeavoured to turn their attention to a far 
different and more noble object for the exercife of 
their ambition. Blejfed are they who hunger and 
thirjl, not after riches and honours, but after righ- 
teoufnejs ; after the polTeftion of the amiable, moral, 
and religious qualities of the heart, and the folid 
virtues of integrity and uprightnefs. Such an ar- 
dent purfuit will yield them more folid and durable 
fatisfaction, than the mod extenfrve acquifitions of 
a mere worldly nature : and at the fame time they 
fhall have fuch a fufficiency of the enjoyments of 
this life, as fhall anfwer all the purpofes of real 
happinefs, fo far as it is attainable in this world. 
In a fubfequent part of this fermon, this Beatitude 
leems to be more fully explained, chap. vi. 33* 
Seek ye firft the kingdom of God and his right eovifnefs t 
i. e. the righteoufnefs which it is the great objecl 
of the Mefliah in his fpiritual reign to efiablifh 
upon earth ; and all thefe things, viz. food and rai- 
ment, and all that is neceffary to the comfortable 
enjoyment of life, fhall be added unto you: for, adds 

D our 



( 34 ) 

our Lord, your heavenly Father knowcth that ye have 
need of all theje things. 

The Jews confined their charity and compafEonr 
within the fphere of their own nation ; and had no 
dealings, even with Samaritans, though more nearly- 
allied to them, both in civil and religious fenti- 
ments, than any other people. But, in oppofition 
to this narrow and contracted difpofition, this un- 
focial felfifhnefs, which is productive of fo much 
mifchief among mankind, our Lord fays, Blejfed 
are the merciful, for they jloall obtain mercy. St. Luke's 
manner of exprefiion appears to be an admirable 
comment upon this paffage. Chap. vi. 36. Be ye 
therefore merciful as your Father alfo is merciful y i. e. 
Let your mercy be as extenfive in its principle, and 
as far as pofiible in its effecls, as that of the great 
Parent of the univerfe, which is not confined as 
that of the Jews was, to this or the other nation $ 
but folds within its embraces the whole human race, 
and is kind even to the evil and the unthankful By 
thus imitating the benevolence of their heavenly 
Father, they would have jufl ground of confidence 
of obtaining that mercy from him, which as men, 
and particularly as finful men, they flood fo much 
in need of s . 

Among 

s Dr. Dodderidge's paraphrafe of this verfe is as follows : 
* c Far from training you up to delight in fcenes of defolation 
3snd daughter, I rather declare, Haj>j>y are the merciful and 

companionate,- 



( 3S ) 

Among the evils which are ufually connected 
with the purfuits of war and conqueft, is the un- 
lawful indulgence in the gratification of the paffions 
with the unhappy females who are taken captive. 
Mr. Blair fuppofes, that when our Lord pro- 
nounced this beatitude, Blejfed are the pure in hearty 
it might refer to the expectation the Jews had of 
pofTefling themfelves of beautiful captives in thofe 
wars, by which they fancied that the Mejjiah's king* 
dom would be raised and eftabliuSed. However 
this may be, Dr. Doddridge's paraphrafe of it 
feems fufficientiy juft. — "Indulge not a thought of 
thofe licentious gratifications, which are often 
mingled with victory, and are accounted as the 
pleafures of the great. Happy are the men that 
not only abftain from thefe grofs enormities, but 
are concerned that they may be pure in heart too 2 
avoiding every irregular defire, and mortifying 
every unruly paflion. This refolute felf-denial 
fhall be the fource of nobler and more lafting 
pleafure ; for they fhall fee God, and, thus puri- 
fied and refined, fhall be fit fubje&s of the MeJfiaFs 
kingdom, which forbids all impurity." 

The fentiments of the Jews concerning the na- 
ture of the Mejjiatis kingdom > naturally led them to 

companionate, that feel the forrows of others as their own. 
and with tender fympathy haften to relieve them y for they 
Jliall obtain that mercy from God, which the beft and happieft 
of mankind need, and on which they continually and entirely 
depend." 

D n cherifh 



{ oS ) 

cheriih difpofitions unfriendly to peaces but to 
check, and, if poftible, to root out propensities fo 
extremely inimical to human happinefs, and even 
to the quiet and fecurity of mankind, our Lord 
fays, Blejfed % or happy, are the peace-makers for 
they jhall be called, or accounted, as the children of 
God-, for he is the God of peace. By cultivating 
this peaceful, this friendly difpofition, they would 
be eminently qualified for becoming the fubje&s of 
the Mejfiah's kingdom, as a kingdom of righteoufnefs 
and peace, of peace and good -will to men. 

A ftate of fuffering, though not entirely incom- 
patible with the ideas which the Jews had formed 
of thofe glorious times which they were then ex- 
peeling, was noc what they imagined would take 
place, at 4eaft to any considerable degree. If, 
however, oppofition fhculd arife, they fully ex- 
pected that, under the conduct of their Meffiah, it 
would foon fubfide-, and terminate in the com- 
pletion of their mod fanguine hopes. But the 
doclrine of our Lord upon this Subject taught them 
what, by referring to the hiftory of their anceftors, 
they might previoufly have known, that a ftate of 
fullering was, at no period of their hiftory, a mark 
of the divine difpleafure; that, as formerly, perfe- 
ction and violence from wicked and unreafonable 
men were the lot of good men, fo they muft not 
now expect exemption from them, Blejfed, or 
happy, are they zvho are ferfecuted for righteoufnefs 
fake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven-, they fhall 

poffeis 



( 37 J 

polTefs the bleflings and privileges of the MeflkuYs 
reign ; while the children of the kingdom, thofe who 
are expecting a worldly kingdom, and will lifted 
to no one who does not make this a part of his 
miffion, Jhall be caft out. Blejfed are ye when men 
Jhall revile you and perfecute you falfely for my fake, 
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your re- 
ward in heaven ; for Jo persecuted they the prophets 
which iv ere before you. 

The reader will form his own judgment how far 
I have, in the above paraphraie, exprelTed the 
fpirit of thefe beatitudes - ? but it is of importance 
to obferve, that they are evidently levelled againft 
the prejudices cf the Jews concerning the nature of 
the MeJJiaFs kingdom, and were delivered with an 
exprefs view of correcting them. And, fo far, they 
porTefs very llrong internal characters of the truth 
cf the hiftory \ 

In the following verfes our Lord proceeds, with 
an admirable unity of defign, to awaken the atten- 
tion of his hearers to the great importance of their 
fituation as Jews, and the fupereminent advantages 
v/bich they enjoyed for the promotion of the know- 
ledge of what he had been teaching them concern- 

1 The property which mankind have ever had to wars and 
conqueft, to promote the purpofesof an inordinate ambition, 
muft render thefe beatitudes highly valuable in a general view. 
When war is engaged in for felf-defence, which is the only 
legitimate caufe of it, they are admirably calculated to control 
the licentioumefs and cruelty which are but too apt to conta- 
lainate the character of a foldier ! 

D .3 ing 



( 38 ) 

ing the nature of the MeffiaVs kingdom > and the dan- 
gerous tonfequences to themfelves, as a nation, of 
their not making a right ufe of thofe advantages. 
V. 13, Ye are the fait of the earth but if the fait 
loath loft its favour or its faltnefs, wherewith jhall 
it be Jolted ; or rather, as I think the original 
fhould have been tranflated, by what means fhall 
it recover its faltnefs ? ev nvi ocXio-^tbtocs ? // is from 
thenceforth become ufelefs, and fit only to be trodden 
under foot i. e. as the words feem fairly to imply, 
when confidered in their connection with the pre- 
ceding and fubfequent context, and more particu- 
larly with the 19th and 20th veries of this chapter ; 
Ye Jews, in the prefent ftate of the world, are yet, 
as you have by the favour of Providence hitherto 
been, from the earlier! period of your hiftory, the 
fait of the earthy the only depofitaries for the pre- 
fervation of the knowledge of God among the na- 
tions of the earth". But if the Jalt hath loft its Jalt- 

nefsy 

u The lituation of the Jewifh nation with refpect to the 
nations which furrounded them, gives a peculiar propriety 
and beauty to this metaphor and the fucceeding one, as applied 
to them. And it is well delineated by the learned Dr. John 
Leland. — " It pleafed God, he obferves, in his great wifdom 
and goodness towards mankind, to make discoveries of his 
will, not merely to a few particular perfons, but to a whole 
nation, fet apart as a prefervative againft the fpreading idolatry 
which was in danger of becoming univerfal. By an extraordi- 
nary interpolation, a eonftitution of a peculiar kind was efta- 
blifhedi the fundamental principle of which was, the acknow- 
ledgment and adoration of the one living and true God,, and 
pf him only. The people araongft whom this eonftitution and 

polity 



( 39 ) 



fisfs } or is become infipid ; if by your traditions, 
afterwards in this very fermon particularly fpeci- 

polity were erected, were not placed in a remote obfcure cor- 
ner of the earth j but in fuch a fltuation as was admirably 
fitted for diffufing the knowledge of their religion and laws. 
They were placed in the centre of the then known world, be- 
tween Egypt and Arabia on the one hand, and Syria, Chaldea > 
and Aflyria, on the other 5 among whom the firft great king- 
doms were erected, and from whence knowledge and learning 
feem to have been derived to the wetTern nations. And that 
this was really part of the defign which the Divine Wifdom 
had in view in his difpenfations towards the people of Ifrael y 
appeareth from feveral pafiages of fcripture." 

Dr. Ellis, in his very interefling book on the knowledge 
of divine things from revelation, not from reafon and nature, 
fays, ** What not a little contributed to the prefervation of 
knowledge in the ealt, was God's continuing to reveal himfelf 
to the Jews 3 fo that, in proeefs of time, the little fpot of 
Jewry was the only place where the true God was known and 
taught. And fome beams of this divine wifdom could not but 
Ihine forth from time to time upon the neighbouring people 
whoconverfed with them. Accordingly, whenever we find a 
people begin to revive in literature, it was owing to Gne of 
thefe caufes ; either to fome tranfmigrators from thofe parts 
coming and fettling among them, or elfe to their going thither 
for inftru£tion. From thefe fountains they always had it, and 
at this fire the nations of the world lighted their own. There 
is no inftance given to the contrary. Kither Athens, and 
afterwards R.ome, came in queh: of knowledge and inttru&ion. 
Thefe were the fchools and matters of the world. And though 
our accounts of Ma are but (hort and defective, yet what 
remains there are, as alfo their traditions, even in China^ 
trace their original and oracles weftward." The Jews were 
then, in fa£t, clariffima mundi lumina, the lights of the ivorld. 

D 4 fied, 



( 40 ) 

fied, you have made void the laws of God, and fo 
corrupted them as to render them of no effect, 
you will ceafe to anfwer the purpofes of fait for 
prefervation, and being become infipid, or of no 
life, you will be thrown away and trodden under 
foot. # . 

In the following verfe our Lord changes the 
metaphor, but ftill exprefles the fame fentiment, 
under the fublimeft and mod beautiful of images. 
V. 14. Te are the light of the worlds a city which 
is fety or built, upon an hill cannot be hid ; i. e. your 
fituation for communicating light to the world 
around you is eminently confpicuous ; as much fo 
as a city which is built upon a hill and cannot be 
concealed. 

Thefe verfes, it is true, have by the generality 
of commentators been applied to the Difciples of 
our Lord, as miniiiers of the gofpel, and they, 
without doubt, were in the councils of heaven, in- 
tended to be the Jalt of the earth and the light of the 
world. But I have, I think, already proved that 
this fermon was not delivered to his Difciples ex- 
duftvely^ but to the multitude at large. Befides, 
it appears unqueflionable that, at the period when 
our Lord delivered this fermon upon the mount, 
thefe exprefiions could not, with any propriety, 
have been applicable to them, any more than to the 
reft of their countrymen. As Dr. Campbell has 
very juftly obferved, " the Apoftles were not yet 
qualified for teaching the fyftem of do&rine im- 
plied 



- c 4* y 

plied under the nzvc\t go/pel becaufe, in fad*, they 
did not know it themfelves. They had then no 
notion of a MeJJiah but as a temporal prince and 
mighty conqueror \ or of his kingdom but as a fe- 
cular monarchy, more extenfive than, but of the 
fame nature with, thofe which had preceded •, to 
wit, the -'Affyrian, the Perfian, the Macedonian 
empires, or that which was in being at the time, 
the Roman. Not one of his hearers could have 
been more prejudiced than the Apoftles themfelves 
were, at that time, againfl a fuffering Saviour, who 
was to expire in agonies upon the crofs. The 
gofpel is, manifeftly what the Apoftles were not 
qualified to teach till they were enlightened by the 
defcent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecoft, 
after our Lord's afcenfion V 

Thefe 

x Mr. Maltby, fpeaking of the commiffion which the Dif- 
ciples were invefted with, fays, " it is obvious to remark the 
limited nature of their preaching, during their mailer's life- 
time. It was limply and exprefsly, to inculcate the necef- 
lity of repentance, becaufe the kingdom of heaven iv as at hand. 
What this kingdom was, they had not yet learned : their 
thoughts indeed were often directed to the fubjec% but their 
ideas concerning its nature Were grofsly inaccurate. Their 
whole conduct, both before and after the conferring of 
thefe extraordinary powers, Ihews that they acted in obe- 
dience to their mailer's command, in delivering to o hers 
what he had enjoined; but that they were utterly dnac- 
quainted with the precife meaning of their melTa 6 e. If i f- 
ficiently anfwercd the purpofe, for which they wet : t, 



40 

( 42 ) 

Thefe remarks of Dr. Campbell are fo manifeftly 
. .founded in truth, that not to admit them, would 
be to contradict the whole tenor of the gofpel 
hiflory. Indeed, this very fermon upon the mount, 
contains, of itfelf, very fufficien't evidence that 
the Apoftles were not particularly and exclufively 
meant by the fait of the earth and the light of the 
world ; for our Lord, almoft immediately after- 
wards, addreffes thefe very perfons, as imagining 
that to promote their ambitious views, the eter- 
nal laws of morality might be diipenfed with. 

that they fliould exhort their countrymen to amend their 
lives ; that they mould in£ru& them to expect the approach 
of the Prophet,, from whom their own powers were de- 
rived, and from whom their hearers would receive fuller 
information as to the object, of his miffion and the nature of 
his doctrines. In conformity with thefe fentiments, is the 
opinion of the learned liofenmuller. Nihil nunc quidem 
ultra mandatum apoftolis, quara ut Judaos ad vitam meli- 
orem hortarentur, et ad Mefiiam audiendum pertraherent, a 
quoaccepturi etfent cstera, qua? ad falutem ipfis eiTent necef- 
iaria. Jefum effe hunc Meliiam, nondura tunc palam tem- 
poris profeffi funt difcipuli. To the fame effect the pious and 
jndicious Le Clerc expreffes himfelf. Obfervandum eft hoc 
loco Apoftolos qui mittebantur ut nuntiarent propinquum 
e{Te reg?ium coelorum, vix ipfos fatis fciviife quid effetj cum 
ad adfcenfum ipfum Chrifti, eum in terris regnaturum fuiife 
crediderint. Vid. A&. i. 6. Nihil ergo reponere potuiffent 
quserentibus quid iis verbis intelligerent, nifi fe a magiftro 
iao, Jefu Nazarenp, ita julfos loqui ; cui rei addere poterant 
fidelem narrationem, ex qua quid confequeretur, elicere audi- 
tores poterant. See Maltby's Illuftrations., p. i6g, 1/0. And 
Bofenmuller and Cleric. Ad Matth. x. /. 

7 Ver. 



( 43 ) 

Ver. 7, Think not that I am come to deftroy the law 
and the Prophets: I am not come to deftroy either, 
but to fulfil both ; to give perfection to the one and 
to accomplilh what the others have written of me: 
for, adds he, with a peculiar emphafis and energy, 
Verily I Jay unto you, till heaven and earth pafs> 
one iota, or one tittle », Jhall in no wife pafs from the 
law till all he fu filled. He therefore immediately 
adds, Ver. 19, Wbrjbever Jhall break one of tbefe 
commandments (of the moral law) and Jhall teach 
men fo> he Jhall be called the leaft in the kingdom of 
heaven — but wbofoever jhall do and teach them> he 
Jhall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And,, 
with a view to the lax morality and the vicious 
conduct of the Jewifh rulers; of thofe who were 
then the only depofitaries of the knowledge which 
then exifted in the world, he tells them, that except 
their righteoufnefs fhould very far exceed the righteouf- 
nefs of the Scribes and Pbarfees, they Jhould in na 
cafe-— or, upon no account whatever, enter into 
the kingdom of heaven. 

Vv ith a like view, our Lord proceeds to cor* 
reel: in detail the highly vitiated morality which 
then prevailed, in points of great and ' eflential 
importance, and to introduce in its Head, fuch a 
purity of heart and rectitude of morals as would 
render them the worthy fubj eels of the Mejfiatfs 
kingdom. 

The whole of this language, it mull: beobferved, 
was addrefled to thofe whom he had Ityled the/alt of 

the 



( 44 ) 

the earth and the light of the world, and therefore it 
appears to me, evident, that he could not mean, 
by thefe phrafes, to defcribe the apoftles exclufively, 
but the Jewijh nation, which he however intimates 
had fo corrupted themfelves as to have nearly 
loll their ufefulnefs.— If the fait hath loft its favour, 
it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be caft out 
and trodden under foot of men. This was, unhappily, 
and notoriously the fact, with refpedt to this in- 
fatuated and incorrigible nation. They foon lod 
their diftinguiflied pre-eminence, particularly in z 
religious point of view, and were, and ftill con- 
tinue to be, even to a proverb, caft out and trodden 
under foot the objects of derifion- and contempt 
amono; all nations. 

If the preceding interpretation of the 13 th and 
14th verfes, in the chapter under confideration, 
(hall be found to be juft— there cannot be any 
difficulty in giving to the verfe immediately fol- 
lowing, a precife and determinate meaning; a 
meaning which is replete with found reafoning 
and which perfectly harmonizes with the meta- 
phor of the Jews being the light of the world. 
V. 15, Men do not light a candle and put it under <f 
bufhely but on a candkftick, and it giveth light to all 
that are in the houfe. As if he had faid — ye Jews 
have been appointed by Providence to be the 
light of the world, upon the fame principle and 
for the fame purpofe that men light a candle in 
their houfes, namely, that all who are in them 5 

may 



( 45 ) 

may enjoy the benefit of its light. This being 
the defign of men, in their humble fpheres of ac- 
tion, in common life, it is for a like purpofe, 
but a far more noble and important one, that God 
has placed you in the fuper- eminent fituation. 
which you now enjoy. In this view, how natural 
and how forcible is the exhortation which cur 
Lord founds upon it. So let your light fiine be- 
fore men, you who are the light of the world, 
that they , may Jee your good works and glorify your 
Father who is in heaven. 

It feems then, from this view of this part of 
our Lord's fermon on _the mount, to have been 
his defign, firft> to give his hearers correct 
views of the difpofitions which would qualify 
them for becoming the worthy fubje&s of tire 
MeJJiaFs kingdom, and then to remind them of 
the peculiar privileges which they, as Jews, en* 
joyed for preferring and difFufing the true know* 
ledge of God ? and, in this manner, to Simulate 
'fhem to improve the advantages which they pof- 
feifed ! 

I (hall not center further into the particulars of 
this fermon upon the mount, than to obferve the 
effect which it had upon his hearers. St. Matthew 
relates that, when Jefus had ended thefe Jayings } 
the people were aftonifhed at his doftrine ; for he 
taught them as one having authority and not as the 
Scribes. Thek-allonilhrnent arofe, probably, from 
their hearing him (peak a language fo foreign to 

their 



\. ; C 4« ) 

their own preconceived ideas of the nature of the 
Meffiah's character, as well as from the authori- 
tative and commanding manner in which he de- 
livered it. 

In the eighth and ninth chapters of St. Mat- 
thew, we find the Evangelift narrating a great 
variety of miracles which our Lord wrought, 
upon divers occafions, eminently calculated to 
arreft their attention to him, as an extraordinary 
perfonage, and to imprefs upon his hearers the 
mod favourable opinion of the peculiar excel- 
lence of his character. This narration concludes 
with an obfervation of the Evangelift, plainly in- 
dicating, what was the great defign of thefe mira- 
cles, ch. ix. 35, And J ejus went through all the cities 
and villages of Judea, teaching in their fynagogues, 
and preaching to zvxyyshm ttjs (fotnXfia?, the glad 
tidings of the kingdom ; i.e. of the kingdom of 
the Messiah, which he had announced to be at 
hand, and healing every ficknefs and every difeafe 
among the people. 

The performance of fuch wonderful miracles of 
benevolence, as was naturally to* be expected, 
drew great multitudes of people after him. In 
the following verfe therefore the evangelift relates, 
that when Jefus faw the multitudes he was moved 
with compaffion towards them, becaufe they fainted 
and were fcatiered abroad, as fheep having no fhep- 
herd. Upon this occafion, he faid to his difciples, 
ven 37, 38, The harvefi truly is plenteous, but the 

labourers 



( 47 ) 

labourers are few ; i. e. there were many who were 
well difpofed to be better inftru&ed, but there 
were but few to inftruct them. Pray ye therefore the 
Lord of the harvefi that he would fend forth labourers - 
into his harvefi. 

It is in this connection that the tenth chapter, 
with fingular propriety, opens with an account of 
our Lord's inverting his twelve difciples with a 
power of working miracles, and more particularly 
with giving them a commifllon to aid him in an- 
nouncing the near abroach of the Meffiah's kingdom* 
V. i . And when he had called to him his twelve dif- 
ciples, he gave them power over unclean fpirits, to cafi 
them out, and to heal all manner of difeqfe. And he 
commanded them, faying, Go not into the way of the 
Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans y 
but go rather to the lofi Jheep of the houfe of Ifrael : 
And as ye go, preach, faying, /The kingdom of heaven^ 
or of the Meffiah, is at hand. 

This commifllon to announce the near approach 
of the Mejfiah's kingdom, bears every mark of the 
truth of the hiflory, and of unity of defign in the 
purfuit of our Lord's great object. And the very 
choice which he made Teems to have been emi- 
nently calculated to correct the lofty ideas which 
had been formed, of his being a temporal prince to 
conduct them to conquer! and to empire. cc Our 
Lord," fays Mr. Makby, cc could not have ftrucfe 
at the very root of the general received opinion 
concerning the MeJ/iah> more directly, than by the 

choice 



C 48 ) 

choice of aflbciates, mean in their circumfiances, 
humble, and even vilified in their occupation, and 
dertitute both of talents and knowledge. Such af- 
fociates were little fuited to promote the views of 
a prince and a conqueror; and the felection of 
them was plainly a renunciation of that pomp and 
diftinction which were generally conceived to be 
efTential to the reftorer of Ifrael z . 5> 

In giving his difciples a commiffion of Cuch 
great importance, it was evidently necefTary that 
our Lord mould, at the fame time, give them 
fueh directions for the regulation of their conduct, 
as the nature of the fervice in which they were to 
be engaged, and the peculiar circumftances and 
the exigences of the times fo urgently required. 
And here again it mull carefully be noticed, that 
it was evidently our Lord's object 'to difcourage 
the remoter!; idea of their being the ambafladors of 
a temporal prince. While he empowers them to 
heal the Jick> to cleanje the lepers, to ralfe the dead^ 
and to caft out devils they were to provide neither 
gold nor Jilver, nor brofs in their purfes> nor Jcrip for 
their journey neither two coats , neither Jboes, nor yet 
Jlaves. The reafon of their being thus totally un- 
provided, our Lord very concKdy dates, as fol- 
lows : 'The workman is worthy of his hire. They 
were engaged in the public fervice, and had a right 
to be maintained by the public. 

In 

a See Maltby's Illufl rations, p. 85-6. 
a "To convey to his companions a jufter notion of his pre- 
tentions 



( 49 ) 

In the execution of their commiflion, our Lord 
goes on, in the ioth and following verfes, to tell 
them of the difficulties which they muft expect to 
meet with, and that it would require the utmoft 
exertion of their prudence and difcretion to dif- 
charge the duties of their office with fuccefs. Be- 
hold, I fend -you forth as fieep in the midji of wolves — 
Be ye therefore wife as ferments, and harmlefs as doves. 
But beware of men , for they will deliver you up to the 
councils, and they /hall jcourge you in their fynagoguesy 
and ye fid all be brought before .governors and kings for 
my fake, for a teftimony to them and the Gentiles, how 
much the true nature of my character has been 
miftaken. But when they deliver you up, take no 
thought how or what ye foall fpeak ; for it foall be 
given you in that fame hour, or, more properly, at 
that fame time, what, ye fhall fpeak ; for it is not ye 
that fpeak from your own wifdom, but it is the Spirit 
of your Father which fpeaketh in you. 

In the 2 1 ft and 2 2d verfes, our Lord proceeds 
to tell them of the extremity of perfecution which 
they would have to encounter in the faithful dif- 
charge of the duties of their office, Moreover \ 

tenfions and his deftination," fays Mr. Maltby, <c and to guard 
them from entertaining any hope of worldly profperity or 
comfort, in confequence of being thus preferred to their 
countrymen, he exprefsly warned them of the perfections 
they muft undergo, and enjoined them ftri&ly not to fear 
them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the fouL" 
Ibid. p. 86. 

E brother 



( 50 ) 

brother Jhall deliver up brother to death, and a father 
his child, mi children Jhall rife up againfl their pa- 
rents, and they ftoall caufe them to be put to death. 
And to fhew, in the ftrongeft manner poflible, the 
extreme violence of the oppofition which they mull 
expecl to meet with in the faithful difcharge of 
their duty, our Lord- adds, that they floould be hated 
by all men for his name's fake. 

Here the attentive reader cannot fail to obferve, 
to ufe the language of Mr. Richards upon another 
occafion of a fimilar nature, <c that our Lord repre- 
sents to his difciples that they were deftined to the 
moil heavy calamities which human nature can 
endure , -not only to prifons and to death, but to 
the general hatred of mankind." And this very 
able writer very properly adds, cc Surely the Spirit 
of truth, and a certain prefcience of the efficacy of 
the divine afliftance, with which he intended to 
fupport them, could alone have prompted him to 
make fuch an unwelcome reprefentation, at a mo- 
ment when every encouragement was required. 
An impoftor, in commending a pretended revela- 
tion to the zeal of his deluded followers, would 
have endeavoured to fire their imaginations by ex- 
patiating upon its final triumphs, and delineatingj 
in the brighter! colours, fcenes of permanent prof- 
perity and fplendor ; while the intermediate dif- 
ficulties to which its propagation might appear to 
be fubjecl, would have been either entirely omitted, 
or reprefented in the weakeft and moft general 

terms, 



C P ) 

terms, as unworthy of the ferious confideration of 
fincere and able fupporters." b 

Thefe obfervations of Mr. Richards, as hath al- 
ready been obferved, are applied to the time when 
our Lord, upon his approaching crucifixion, pre- 
dicted the perfecutions which they would have to 
endure; but they feem, with equal force, to ap- 
ply to his declarations to them upon the fame fub- 
ject at this more early period. And indeed it 
would be extremely difficult, if not impoflible, for 
a perfon who does not fully enter into the fenti- 
ments and prejudices of the difciples of our Lord 
upon the fubject of the coming of the MeJJlah, to 
imagine the extreme furprize and aftonilhmejit 
which this remarkable prediction of the mighty 
fufferings which they would have to encounter, 
muft neceffarily have produced upon their minds % 
for though they could not, perhaps, even upon 
their own principles, have expected to have been 
entirely exempted from all fufferings in the attain- 
ment of the great object of their ambition, yet it 
was not poffible for them to have entertained any 
idea of fuch mighty oppofition, at lead from their 
own countrymen, as to be delivered up to the great 
councils of their nation, to be fcourged in their Syna- 
gogues, and to be hated by all- men, for proclaiming 
tidings which were equally grateful, and expected 



See Mr, Richard's Ban\pton Le6fcurcs, p. 200. 

E 2 with 



( si ) 

With an. ardour at lead equal to their own, by the 
whole Jewifh nation. 

Our Lord appears, mod: evidently, to have 
been fully fenfible of the effect which his prediction 
of fuch mighty oppofition, from a. quarter fo en- 
tirely unexpected, mud neceiTarily have had upon 
their minds. And his immediately proceeding to 
offer fuch encouraging considerations to their at- 
tention, as might enable them, with becoming 
fortitude and magnanimity, to execute the duties 
of their office, mud, in the efiimation of all good 
judges of the nature of evidence, be admitted as a 
ftrong additional proof of the authenticity of the 
hirlory. 

It will be neceffary to take particular notice of 
thefe encouragements, became among them there 
is one which Mr. Gibbon has totally mifunderftood, 
and upon which he probably founded his objection, 
that our Lord foretold bis Jecond coming-in the ge- 
neration in which he lived. 

The firft confolatory confideration which our 
Lord thought it proper to offer to the attention of 
his difcicks, was what could not but have had a 
considerable effect upon their minds, viz, that by 
perfeverance in the faithful difcharge of their duty, 
they would not, ultimately, fail of fuccefs. V. 22, 
He that endureth to the end, the Jame Jhall be Javed. 
This declaration they could not, I think, have un- 
derstood in any other fenfe, than that, notwith- 

ftanding 



( 53 ) 

Handing the oppofltion which they might meec 
with, they mould at length attain the great object 
of their wilhes. At the fame time it is not im- 
probable that, though they underftood him in this 
confined fenfe, he had a farther and more noble 
view in thefe words, viz. that by a faithful dis- 
charge of their duty, their final Jalvation would be 
fecuied. But, even in the former fenfe, his lan- 
guage plainly conveyed to them this very important 
intimation, that they muft net expect the attain- 
ment of the great object of their expectations, 
without diligently and faithfully performing their 
duty, whatever difficulties they might meet with, 
in the execution of it. 

Another confoling confederation, of great im- 
portance, in the trying circumftances in which they 
would fomerimes find themfeives, was that, in 
very prefiing exigencies, it would be lawful and 
even neceflary to fave themfeives from the dangers 
to which they might be expofed, by flying from 
and endeavouring to avoid them. V, 23. Whm 
they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another. 
They were not unneceflarily to expofe themfeives 
to danger; nor, when they were unavoidably ex- 
pofed to it, were they to neglect all honourable 
means of efcaping from it, i fhall be excufed if I 
obferve here, how extremely remote this direction 
was from what would have been given by one 
under the influence of enthufiafm. Enthufiafts are 

E 3 , commonly 



( 54 ) 

commonly obferved to court inftead of flying from 
perfecution. 

But neither of thefe considerations would, of 
themfelves, have been fufEcient to have animated 
the difciples of our Lord to endure the troubles 
which he had taught them to expect, without 
-having their minds particularly directed to a given 
period of time, beyond which their expectations of 
the coming of the Meffiah would not be deferred; 
when the kingdom of heaven fhould no longer be at 
hand y but actually come. Our Lord appears to have 
been thoroughly fenfible of the abfciute neceffityof 
a declaration to this purpofe, and therefore he not 
only tells them, that they fhould ultimately be fuc- 
cefsful in their expectation of the coming of the Mef- 
fiah, and that, in the mean time, it would be law- 
ful, and even expedient in cafes of imminent dan- 
ger, to flee from one city to another ; but he imme- 
diately added, and that in the moft pointed and 
explicit, but at the fame time in the mod cautious 
terms, that they fhould not have gone ovc the cities of 
ffrael till the Son of Man came c . He did not, it 
mull carefully be obferved, fay that he himfelf was 
the Meffiah, but that they fhould not have gone over the 
cities of Ifrael, in the execution of the duties of their 
commiflion, till they fhould be fatisfied that the Son 
of Man, the MelTiah, was actually come. Such an 

c There is nothing in the other evangelifts parallel to this 
verfe. 

a durance 



( 55 ) 

affurance as this, to men whofe views at this pe- 
riod were invariably directed towards the expec- 
tation of a Meffiah to come, was abfolutely and in- 
difpenfably necellary. And it is in the higheft 
degree probable, that if it had not been given, 
they muft, upon their own principles, and indeed 
upon the common principles of human nature^ 
have forfaken him, notwithstanding the high re- 
gard which they may juftly be fuppofed to have 
entertained for the peculiar excellence of his per- 
fonal character; for, without fuch an afTurance, 
they would have wanted the moil effential, and to 
them, particularly at this important period, the 
mo ft powerful motive for facing the dangers which 
had, in fuch forcible terms, been impreiTed upon 
their minds. 

It is not eafy to imagine that our Lord's difciples 
could have entertained any other idea of the coming 
here mentioned, than of the coming of the Meffiah, 
or of the kingdom ofheaven y which he had announced 
to be at hand ; for to that coming it is evident, 
beyond all reafonable difpute, their whole attention 
was originally directed. With a belief that Jefus 
might poffibl) T be the Meffiah, they had joined him, 
and they had lent a willing ear to his inftructions, 
in the hope that he would give them fuch in- 
formation concerning him as they wanted. And 
the very circumftance of their having juft been in- 
vefted with a commifllon to announce the near ap- 
proach of the Meffiah' s kingdom, naturally and ne- 

E 4 cefTarily 



( £6 ) 

CefTarily led them to underftand the coming of the 
Son of Man, of the coming of the Meffiah. Nor is 
there, in the fubfequent part of the chapter, a 
Tingle fentence but what relates to their conduct in 
executing the duties of their commifTion, of an- 
nouncing the near approach of the Meffiah' s kingdom ; 
fo that the phrafe, the coming of the Son of Man % is 
fo fenced in, if the expreffion may be allowed, both 
by the preceding and fubfequent context, that it. 
can have no other meaning than the coming of the 
Meffiah. And to interpret it in any other fenfe, is 
to violate all the rules of found reafoning, and en- 
tirely to difregard s not only our Lord's original 
language that the kingdom of heaven was at handy but 
the whole tenor of the gofpel hiftory d . 

Befides, 

d <( Jefus Chrift," fays Mr. Le Clerc, " gives here fome 
inrtructions to his apoftles, not only for their firft embaify, 
but for the others which ,they mould undertake after his af- 
cenfion. What is here faid has clearly a relation to thefe 
laft j for it is evident that the apoftles foon afterwards returned 
to Chrift. See Mark vi. 30. Luke ix. 10. They did not even 
experience any ill treatment from the Jews,, who conftrained 
them to flee from city to city while they followed their matter 
upon earth. This coming of our Lord, of which he here 
fpeaks, ought then to be underitood of fomething which hap- 
pened after his afcenfion, and there is nothing to which this 
expreffion and what our Lord fays, agrees better than to the 
ruin of the Jews. The holy fcripture often fays that God 
comes, when he punifhes thofe whom he had treated as if he 
had been abfent. See Ifaiah xxxv. 4, &c. and what inter- 
preters have faid upon this pafiage. Jefus Chrift, according 

to 



( 57 ) 

Befides, if our Lord had meant, by this phrafe, 
the fecond and glorious coming of the Son of Man in the 
clouds to judge all mankind at the lafi day, it would, 
at that period at leaft, have been utterly impof- 
fible, if the difciples had fo underftood him, not to 
-have forfaken hiro immediately as an impofor, as 
not anfwering their avowed expectations ; for they 
then moil inconteftably entertained ideas which 
were totally incompatible with fuch an event. Nor 
is it eafy to imagine how any one claiming the cha- 
racter of the Mejfiahy ihould have had the moil 
diftant conception of fuch an event taking place in 
his ov/n time, any more than his followers, much 
lefs that, in a feries of argument, manifestly in- 
tended for the encouragement of his difciples under 
peculiar difficulties, he would have made ufe of 
one, which mult either have been wholly unin- 
telligible to them, or muft have had an immediate 
and direct tendency to difccurage all their expec- 
tations of his being the Mejfiah. 

I have been the more earned in endeavouring to 
fix the precife meaning of this vcrfe, becaufe, if it 
be underftood in Mr. Gibbon's fenfe, it muft fix 

to this manner of fpeaking, fays here,, that before the apoftles 
Ihould have gone through the cities of Ifrael, he Ihould come; 
that is to fay, that he mould punilh the Jews for their incre- 
dulity and their perfections of his apoftles. Jn reality a thou- 
sand evils befel the Jews from the moment they began to ill- 
treat the apoflles, as may be feen in Jofephus's Hiftory of the 
Jewifh War," 

an 



( 58 ) 

an indelible Main upon the go/pel bijtory, and the 
reader, who fo understands it, mud unavoidably 
be impreiTed with an unfavourable opinion of it ; 
whereas, if he understands it of the coming of the 
Mejfiahy he cannot but feel how much it har- 
monizes with our Lord's original language, that 
the kingdom of heaven, or of the Meffiah, was at 
hand, and he will be conftrained to confider it as 
among the moft ftriking evidences of the authenti- 
city of the go/pel hiftory, 

Befides the internal proofs from the chapter it- 
felf, that the whole of it relates exclufively to the 
commiffion of the aportles to announce the near ap- 
proach of the Mejfiaifs kingdom ; the evangelifl has, 
in the beginning of the xith chapter, very distinctly 
Hated the fact in the following terms, chap. xi. i* 
And it came to pafs, when J ejus had made an end of 
iommandingy or, as the original word hxrcxro-ccv pro- 
perly fignifies, of hying down rules for the regula- 
tion of the conduct of his difciples, in the execution 
of the duties of their com million, he departed thence 
to teach and to preach in their cities. 

It is in this connexion that the evangelifl intro- 
duces an account of a meffage from John the Bap- 
tift, while under confinement, to Jefus, inquiring 
into the nature of his claim. Ver. i. Now when 
John had heard in frifon the works of Ghr.ijl, or rather 
of Jefus, for he was not yet acknowledged as the 
Chrifly he fent two of his difciples, and faid to 
him, Art thou he that fhould come ; he whom we, as 

Jews, 



( 59 ) 

Jews, are anxioufly expecting, or are we to look for 

another ? 

This mefiage is one, among a multiplicity of une- 
quivocal proofs, of the general expectation of the 
Meffiah, at the time when our Lord made his ap- 
pearance in the world. And his anfwer to the 
Baptift's queftion is well worthy of notice, not only 
as it fhews his cautious and guarded manner of con- 
ducting himfeif, when queftioned concerning the 
true nature of his char after, but becaufe it will af- 
ford an opportunity of prefenting to the reader 
another finking and inconteftable proof of the true 
meaning of the phrafe, the kingdom of heaven, in a 
connection which cannot eafily be miftaken. 

TJie meffengers of John, it appears, addrefTed 
our Lord in the hearing of the multitude, and, 
upon this account, it was particularly neceffary 
that he mould be extremely cautious and guarded 
with refpect to the anfwer which he mould return 
to the' Baptift's mefifage. That he might, how- 
ever, have the defired information upon the fubject 
of his inquiry, our Lord, inftead of directly and 
explicitly acknowledging that he was the Mejftah, 
referred them to his excellent inftructions, and to 
the many wonderful works which he had wrought. 
Ver. 4, 5, Go and Jhew John again thofe things which 
ye do hear and fee. The blind receive their fight, the 
lame walk, the lexers are cleanfed, the deaf hear, the 
dead are raifed up : and, in exact harmony with the 
ancient prophecy concerning the Meutah, he adds, 

the- 



( 6o ) 

the poor have the go/pel preached to them*. The 
verfe following is well worthy of notice, as it ap- 
pears to have a man i fell allufion to the prejudices 
of the Jews concerning the nature of the Meffiah's 
character : V. 6. Bleffed is he s whcfosver fhall not 
he offended in me. As if he had faid, Happy is the 
man who fnall not be offended at my prefent hum- 
ble appearance, but fhall own me to be the perfon 
my works declare me to be, notwithstanding I 
have none of thofe worldly honours and emolu- 
ments to beftow, which are generally confidered 
as infeparably connected with the coming of the 
Meffiah. 

e I have been extremely concerned, in my intercourse 
with foeiety> to rind it to be a very prevailing opinion among 
many, otherwife very fenlible men, that the poor ought to be 
kept in a flate of ignorance. To fuch an opinion, I am happy, 
to fay, the, gofpel gives not the flighted countenance and if 
it did, it would deferve to be treated with the utmoft con- 
tempt. I muft contend, that the prefent fad date of the lower 
claifes of mankind arifes, not from their knowing too much, 
but from their knowing too little. How very differently did 
St. Paul esprefs himfelf before. King Agrippa. — I ivould to Gad 
that all that hear me this clay, ivere both almojl and altogether 
fuch as lam, except thefe bonds. He was not afraid that too 
much knowledge would be injurious to them! Indeed I con- 
fider it as no trifling evidence of the truth of Chriftianity, that 
it was to the poor, who conftitute fo large a portion of man- 
kind, that the gofpel, or good tidings of falvation, were par- 
ticularly addreifed. And it may juftly be queried, whether 
there is not fome radical defect in the religious fyftems of mo- 
dern times, that the generality of the poor are in fo deplorable 
a Rate of ignorance. 

I cannot 



( 6i ) 

I cannot difmifs this part of the evangelical hif- 
tory without obferving, that it appears to me that 
our Lord's caution, fo ftrongly manifefted in not 
declaring himfelf to be the MeJ/iah, is a very link- 
ing and unequivocal proof of the authenticity of 
the hiflory; for it was not in our Lord's power, as 
I have before hinted, publicly to declare that he 
was the Mejfiah, without effectually defeating the 
great purpofes of his million - 3 having none of thofe 
proofs to offer of his being the Meffiah, which they, 
one and all, invariably affixed" to his char after ; to 
wit, that he was a temporal prince, to conduct them 
to conqued and to empire. 

But to return ; — -when our Lord had difpatched 
his anfwer to .John's meffage, he then addreffed 
the multitudes concerning him, in terms the molt 
refpectful and honourable to his character, de- 
claring that, among thofe that were home of women, 
there had not arifen one who was greater than John 
the Bapfift. But to (hew, in the ftrongeft point of 
view, the fuperior excellence of his- own character, 
and the fuperior importance of the religious efta- 
blifnment which he, as the Meffiap? was about to 
fet up, he adds, notwithftanding he that is leaft in 
the kingdom of heaven, or of the Median, is greater 
than he. 

In the next chapter in the order of the hiflory, 
there are feveral particulars which have an evident 
reference to the controverfy of our Lord with the 
Jews concerning the nature of She Mejfatis charac- 
7 ter, 



( 6* ) 

ler, which will not be undeferving of the reader's 
attention. The chapter is introduced by a cir- 
cumftance which gave great offence to the nice 
feelings of the fuperflitious Jews. Chap. xii. j. 
At that time Jefus went, on the Jabbath day, through 
the corn, and his difciples were an hungered and began 
to pluck the ears cf corn and to eat. But when the 
Pharifees Jaw it, they Jaid unto him, Behold, thy dif- 
eiples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Jab- 
hath day. Upon which our Lord put this queflion 
to them : v. 3, Have ye never read what David did, 
when he and they that were with him were an hun- 
gered ? Ho-w he entered into the hovje of God, and did 
eat the conjecrated bread, which was not lawful to be 
eaten but by pr lefts only - 9 and how that, on the Jabbath 
day, the priefts in the temple profane the temple and 
■are blamelefs; the fenfe of which is, that pofitive 
and ritual laws, when they interfere with more im- 
portant duties, are more honoured in the breach 
than in the obfervance. Upon this occafion, our 
Lord took an opportunity of afTerting his own 
high character, but, as ufual, in the language of 
caution. V. 6. But I Jay unto you, that in this place 
is one greater than the temple ; i. e. the Lord of the 
temple. " Therefore," fays Bilhop Pearce, " he 
Was fuperior to any pofitive law relating to the 
worfnip of God, fuch as their fabbath was." This 
our Lord explains more fully and diflinctly in the 
following verfe. But if ye had known what this 
mmmthy I will have mercy and not Jacrifice, or 

mercy 



( &3 ) 

mercy rather than facrifke, (C the fupplying," fays 
the commentator juft mentioned, " the necefiary 
wants of nature, before the difcharge of the pofi- 
tive law of the labbath ye would not have con* 
demned the guilt lefs for the Son of Man, the Meffiah, 
is Lord even of the fabbath day. 

In the cafe which has now been dated, it may 
be remarked, that the charge of his difciples break- 
ing the fabbath was made chiefly with a view to 
implicate him in the crime ; but in that which im- 
mediately follows, the attack is made directly upon 
our Lord himfelf. V. 9. And when he was de- 
parted thence, he went into their fynagogue, and behold 
there was « man who had his hand withered : , and 
they afked him, faying, Is it lawful to heal on the fab- 
bath day ? that they might accufe him. To which our 
Lord thus replied, v. 1 1, What man fhall there be 
among you that fhall have Me Jheep, and if it fall into 
a pit cn the fabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and 
lift it out ? How much better then is a man than a 
fheep? From this reafoning, which fcarcely ad- 
mitted of any reply, our Lord draws this con* 
clufion, v. 12, JVherefore it is lawful to do good on 
the fabbath day. Then /aid he to the man, Stretch 
forth thine hand ; and he ft retched it forth, and it was 
reft or ed whole as the other. But no force of reafon- 
ing, no action of beneficence, however great, ap- 
pears to have had any effect upon the minds of 
thefe unprincipled and wouhlefs men. Sq far 
were they from (hewing any pleafure at feeing a 

fellow- 



( 64 ) 

fellow-creature relieved from a grievous malady, 
the evangel id fays, v. 14, 'They went out and held 
a council againft him, how they might defiroy him. 
They were offended at bim for doing an ad of real 
benevolence on the fabbath day ; while they them- 
felves, as Dr. Macknight has well obferved, were 
profaning it by an action which would have pol- 
luted any day, feeking an opportunity of murder- 
ing one who had never done them any harm, but 
a great deal of good. But when J ejus knew their 
malicious defign, he withdrew him/elf from -thence, 
and great multitudes followed him, and, notwithstand- 
ing the ungrateful treatment he had juft mei: with, 
he healed them ally and charged them that they Jhould 
not make him known. And thus, fays the evangel ill, 
was fulfilled in him the prophecy of Ifaiah, faying, 
v, 18, Behold my fervant, whom I have chofen ; my 
beloved, in whom my foul is well pleafed. I will put 
my fpirit upon him, and he fa all faew judgment to the 
Gentiles* He faall not far he nor cry, mall make no 
noify and oftentatious claims to the character of 
the Meffiahj neither ft all any man hear his voice af- 
ferting thofe claims in the ftreets. On the contrary, 
he withdrew himfelf as much as poflible from 
public notice, and forbad thofe whom he had healed 
to fpread abroad his fame. A bruifed reed faall he 
not break, and Jmoking flax faall he not quench, until 
he fend forth judgment unto victory ; or, as Dr. 
Campbel has rendered it, till he render his laws 
"victorious. He fliall be fo mild and gentle in his 

demeanour, 



( 65 ) 

demeanour, fo attentive to the fentiments arid pre- 
judices of the well difpofed, as gradually to efta- 
blifh the truth of his claim to the character of the 
Meffiah. V. 21. And> in his name fid all the G entiles 
trufi. 

Iri the 2 2d verfe, the hiftorian proceeds to re- 
late a miraculous cure which our Lord had ef- 
fected. Then zvas brought unto him one poffeffed with 
a devil, or demon, blind and dumb, and he healed 
him: infomuch that the Mind and dumb perfon both 
/pake and Jaw. Upon this it is faid, v. 23, that: 
till the 'people were amazed, and /aid. Is not this the 
Son of David? evidently meaning, by this quef- 
tion, that they fuppofed that he might be the Chrift, 
or the Meffiah, whom they were then fo earneftly 
expecting. Such a queftion from the mouth of 
the common people, roufed the jealoufy, and ex- 
cited an alarm in the minds of the unprincipled 
Pharifees, left they mould be induced to acknow- 
ledge that he was the Meffiah, being themfelves 
regardlefs of the proof which he had juft given that 
he was, if not the Meffiah, at leaft an extraordinary 
ferfonage. Unable, however, to deny the reality 
vf the miracle, and unwilling to fufFer even a fuf- 
picion of his being the Meffiah, to get pofTefiion of 
the minds of the common people, they rather 
chofe malignantly to attribute the miracle to his 
connection with demons. V. 24. But when the 
Pharifees heard it, they faid, This fellow doth not 
toft out demons but by Beelzebub^ the prince of the 
demons. . 

F If 



( 66 ) 

If ever language was capable of roufing an honeft 
and virtuous indignation, efpecially when the na- 
ture of the miracle which occafioned it is con- 
fjdered, furely this was ! But what was the anfwer 
of our Lord to the infamous fuggeftions of thefe 
profligate and unprincipled men ? Why he con- 
defcended to reafon with them upon the extreme 
abfurdity of their fuppofition, and that in a lan- 
guage which was, in the higheft degree, calm and 
temperate, and fraught with a (trength of argu- 
ment which nothing could exceed, and which ad- 
mitted of no reply. V. 25, &c. Every kingdom 
divided agaift it/elf is brought to deflation* and every 
city or houfe divided againft it/elf 'will not ftand. And 
if Satan caft out Satan* how Jhall then his kingdom 
ftand ? And if I* by Beelzebub, caft out devils, by 
whom do your children caft them out ? Therefore they 
Jhall be your judges. But if /, by the Sprit of God* 
caft out devils* then is the kingdom of God come unto 
you. 

By the kingdom of God it is hardly poffible to 
doubt that our Lord here meant the kingdom of the 
Mejftah* which he had announced to be at hand\ 
and it appears to have been the chief object: of his 
difcourfe, upon this occafion, to prove that the 
conjecture of the people, which had given fuch of- 
fence to the Pharifees — rls not this the Son of David? 
was well founded. But while our Lord, in his reply 
to the (hamelefs and unprincipled cavils of the 
Scribes and Pharifees* manifefled the utmoft cool- 
nefs of temper, and the moft perfect felf-com- 

mand, 



( 6; ) 

mand, he neverthelefs expreffed his moil unqua- 
lified fenfe of the heinoufnefs of their crime, in 
afcribing miracles of the pureft benevolence to a 
diabolical influence, as proceeding from the mod 
rooted depravity, and the mod hardened deter- 
mination of refilling all evidence, however ftrong, 
which was not fuited to their ambitious and felf- 
interefted views. This every one mud acknow- 
ledge he might have done with the moft unruffled 
temper and the mod perfect compofure. And, 
furely, it will be allowed that no occafion could 
ever have more juftly called for a fevere cenfure, 
than the afcribing a miracle which reltored fpeech 
and hearing to an unfortunate man, to fuch a 
caufe! If this was not criminality, in the higheft 
degree, what can deferve the name of crimi- 
nality ? 

And here I cannot refrain from obferving, that 
our Lord frequently urged the miracles which he 
wrought as proofs that he was the Msjfiah. Go and 
Jhew John again thofe things i that ye do hear and fee — 
If % by the Sprit or power of God cafi out devils \ 
then is the kingdom of God come unto you. And yet 
it feems to be becoming a fafhionable doctrine that 
Chriftianity requires, in proof of its truth, neither 
prophecies nor miracles, though the latter are in- 
terwoven in almoft every page of the gofpel hif- 
tory. Indeed it is difficult to conceive upon what 
principle they can be rejected, without rejecting 
the whole fyftem. If the miracles of the gofpel 
were not wrought, it is almoft impoffible to avoid 

F 2 the 



( 68 ) 

the conclufion, that the Author of our religion was 
the greateft impoftor that ever exifted. And if 
they were, they afforded evidence, of a very fupe- 
rior kind, of the truth of his mifTion ; for no man 

could do Juch miracles except God was with him. 

But to return from this digrefiion — our Lord 
having, from his very forcible and unanfwerable 
reafoning with the PharifeeSj drawn the conclufion 
that the kingdom of God, or of the Median, was 
come, or rather was coming to them*, certain of the 
Scribes appear to have feized with avidity upon 
this declaration, faying, v. 38, Mafter, we would 
fee a fign from thee - 3 meaning probably, the fign of 
the Son of Man f mentioned by the prophet Daniel, 
coming in the clouds of heaven ; which they inter- 
preted, of his coming to take vengeance on their 
enemies. But he anfwered, v. 59, and faid to 
them, An evil and adulterous generation feeketh after 
a fign, and there fhall no fign be given to it, fuch as 
is expected by you, but the fign of the prophet Jonas-, 
for as Jonas was three days and three nights in tht 
whale's belly, Jo /hall the Son of Man be three days 
and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

In the two foilowing verfes, our Lord compares 
the conduct of the Jews with that of the Ninevites 

e The fame word which is ufed here, is likevviie ufed by 
Sf . Pau4 _, l "Iht.ff. ii. \6, and is applied by him to the deft-ruc- 
tion of Jeruja/e//j, which was then only approaching. The Greek 
word here rendered is come> being an aoriii, icems to be ufed 
for the paulo pol't futuVurii, to denote the near approach of ike 
kingdom of heaven, or of the MefTiah. See Dr. Benlun on 
i Theif. ii. Id, an i my Triumphs of Christianity , p. 5J. 

and 



( 69 ) 

and of the Queen of Sheba ; both of which in- 
ftances carried a fevere ceniure upon theirs ; and. 
he afferts, in flrong, but, as ufual, in very cau- 
tious terms, the high dignity of his own character. 
V. 4 1 , The men of Nineveh Jhall rife up in judgment 
againfl this generation, and jhall condemn it ; becavfe 
they repented at the 'preaching of Jonas. And, be* 
hold a greater than Jonas, meaning himfelf, is here. 
The queen of the /out h Jhall rife up in judgment againfl 
this generation, and jhall condemn it- } for jhe came 
from the uttermoft parts of the earth to hear the wij- 
dom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is 
here. The argument is then concluded in the fol- 
lowing manner: v. 43, When an unclean Jpirit is 
gone^ out of a man, he walketh through, aw^m tottuv, 
parched defer ts, feeking reft, and findeth none. T hen 
he faith, 1 will return to my houfe from whence 1 
came out ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, 
fwept, and garnijhed, fit for the reception of the 
gueft who had quitted it. Then goeth he and taketh 
to him/elf J even other Jpirits more wicked than himfelf, 
and they enter in and dwell there, and the lafi ftate of 
that man is worfe than the firft. Even Jo jhall it be 
alfo unto this wicked generation. Bimop Pearce has 
thus concifely exprelTed the dcfigfi of this parable. 
M The more I do for reforming this generation, the 
worfe it will be." 

I have dwelt longer upon the confideration of 
the contents of t* is chapter, than was perhaps ab« 

F 3 folutely 



( 7° ) 

folutefy necelTary but it feems fo ftrongly to con- 
firm the extreme propriety of viewing the gofpel 
hiftory, as an hiftory of the controverfy between 
our Lord and the Jews concerning the true nature 
of the MeffiaFs character, and fo accurately fixes 
the genuine meaning of the phrafe, the kingdom of 
God, in the 28th verfe, that the reader will not, I 
am perfuaded, confider his labour loft in the pe- 
rufal of it. I muft not, however, omit to intro- 
duce to his notice the conclufion of it ; which, for 
genuine fimplicity, and the mofl correct and re- 
fined tafte of the fuperior importance of the duties 
which men owe to the Supreme Being, mofl cer- 
tainly flands without a rival. V. 46, &c. While he 
was yet talking to the people, behold his mother and 
his brethren flood without deftring to fpeak to him* 
<Then one faid to him, Behold thy mother and thy bre- 
thren Jland without, deftring to fpeak to thee. But 
he anfwered, and faid to Mm that told him, Who is 
my mother, and who are my brethren ? And he 
fir etched forth his hand towards his dfciples, and 
faid, Behold my mother and my brethren for whofo- 
ever jhall do the will of my Father who is in heaven* 
the fame is my brother, and fifter, and mother. The 
force of this hiftorical anecdote is irre/iftible, and 
when it is considered as the unpremeditated thought 
of the moment, it at once fhews the feperior 
wifdom and the unrivalled excellence of the mind 
which dictated it ! 

The 



( 7i ) 

The limits which I have prefcribed to this work 
forbid the following the exact order of the hiftory 
any further. I fhall therefore proceed, immedi- 
ately, to a molt interefting and important conver- 
fation which arofe betv/een our Lord and his dif- 
ciples, refpecting the opinion which was enter- 
tained among his countrymen concerning him. 
And it is thus introduced by the evangelical hif- 
torian, ch. xvi. 13. When Jefus came into the coafts 
of Cafarea Philippic or into the country which was 
•under the jurisdiction, of Philip, he afked his difdples, 

faying* Whom do men fay that I y the Son of Man, 
am ? And they faid> Some fay that thou art Jqfn the 
Baptifi feme Elias ; and others Jeremiah y or one of 
the prophets. From this account of the public 
opinion concerning our Lord, it appears that how- 
ever various their conjectures concerning him were, 
all were agreed that he was an extraordinary per- 
fonage. Our Lord then afked them, What was 
their own opinion of the nature of his character \ or 
who they thought him to be? V. 15, But whom 

fay ye that I am ? To which the apoftle Peter, 
without hefitation, replied, Thou art O p£p*ro?, the 
Chrifly or the Meffiah, the Son of the living God. 

The 

f Dr. Campbell, fpeaking of the word Chrijl, fays, " If 
we were to judge by the common verfion, or even by moll 
vernons into modern tongues, we mould connder the word as 
rather a proptr name than an appellative or name of office, 
and mould think of it only as a iurname given to our Lord. 

F 4 Our 



( n ) 

The reader has here before him an unequivocal 
proof, not only of the extreme propriety of con,- 

Our tranflators have* contributed greatly to this mi flake, by 
very feldom prefixing the article before Chrijl, though it is 
rai-ely wanting in the original. The word Chrijl was at firfi 
as- much an appellative as the word baptijl was, and the one 
was as regularly accompanied with the article as the other. 
Yet our tranflators, who always fay the JBaptiJl, have, one 
would think, ftudioufly avoided faying the Chrijl. This may 
appear to fuperncial readers an inconfiderable difference ; but 
the addition of the article will be found, when attended to, 
qf real confequence for conveying the meaning in Englifh, 
with the fame perfpicuity and propriety with which it is 
conveyed in Greek. So much virtue there is in the article, 
which, \n our idiom, is never prefixed to the name of a man, 
though it is invariably prefixed to a name of office (nnlefs 
where fome pronoun, or other appropriating expreffion, ren- 
ders it unneceflary), that without it the fenfe is always dark- 
ened, and fometimes marred. Thus in fuch expreffions as 
tbefe : This Jefus ivhmn I preach imto you is Chrijl. Paul tcf~ 
fife J to the Jeivs that Jefus ivas Chrijl. Shoivi?ig that Jefus 
•was Chrijl: the unlearned reader forms no diftincl: apprehen- 
fion, as the common application of the words leads him uni- 
formly to confider Jefus and Chrifl as no other than the name 
and the furname of the fame perfon. It would have conveyed 
to fuch a reader precifely the fame meaning, to have fa id, 
Paul tejlifiedto the Jews that Chrijl ivas Jefus - } and fo of the 
reft. The article alone, therefore, in fuch cafes, adds con- 
liderable light to the expreffion j yet no mere than what the 
words of the hillorian manifeftly convey to every reader who 
underftands his language. It lhould be, therefore, Paul tes- 
tified to the Jews that Jefus was the Chrift, or the Meffiah, 
&c. Many other examples might be brought to the fame pur- 
pofej but thefe are Sufficient." See Campbell's Differtations, 
. yoX'.l. p. 369, 170. Quarto edition. 

fidering 



( 73 ) 

fidering the gofpel, hiftory as an hiftory of the conr 
troverfy concerning the nature of the MeJJlatis cha- 
rafter^ but of the difciples themfelves not having, 
till this period, acknowledged that Jefus was the 
Mejfiah, And indeed, if the ftate of things, at the 
time when this converfation took place, be atten- 
tively confidered - 3 it will appear that it required no 
fmall exercife of faith in the integrity of our Lord's 
character to have made this noble cenfeffion $ for 
there were then no figns, and indeed could not be, 
from the nature of his character, which, till after 
this period, his difciples had invariably affixed to 
if, which could at all have led them to think their 
favourite idea of a worldly kingdom was about to be 
realized. And it is particularly deferving of no^ 
tice, from St. Peter's account of the fentiments of 
the people at large, that their opinion of him was 
perfectly fingular : fome faying that he was John 
the Baptift ; fome that he was Elias ; and others 
that he was Jeremiah, or one of the prophets ; 
but none that he was O %p*ro b - 3 the Chrift, or the 
Meffiah, but themfelve% This has been thought' 
extraordinary, and it has been confidered as not 
eafily to be accounted for, from the known and 
acknowledged fentiments which they then unquef- 
tionably held concerning the nature of the MeJJiah's 
character which moft certainly were not mate- 
rially different from thofe of the reft of their conn-, 
try men. 

But furely there is nothing contrary to probata 

lity 



( 74 ) 

Iky in their fuppofing that he might be the Meffiah 
whom they fo earneftly expected, though he had, 
as yet, not given them the grand diftinguifhing 
proof of it which they affixed to it, namely, his 
being a temporal prince. They had heard him de- 
clare that the kingdom of heaven, or of the Meffiah, 
was at hand ; and in confequence of that declara- 
tion they had joined him, upon the belief, or at 
leaft upon the hope, that he might poffibly be the 
Meffiah. They had themfelves received a com- 
miffion from him to announce to their countrymen 
the glad tidings of its near approach. They had 
feen him perform numerous miracles, which very 
fully evinced that he was an extraordinary perfonage ; 
and this, from their own account, was the general 
opinion. And, from an intimate acquaintance 
with him, they did not entertain the leaft doubt of 
the perfect integrity of his perfonal character. He 
had likewife publicly declared, that he was greater 
than Jonas, greater than the queen of the fouth, greater 
than Solomon* and greater than the temple, though he 
had not declared that he was the Meffiah. If to all 
this it be added, that they had frequent opportu- 
nities of obferving the iuperior excellence and 
fublimky of his mil ructions, his unaffected piety 
to God, his unexampled difintereftednefs, and his 
generous benevolence and philanthropy and it 
will, perhaps, in no refpect be found to be im- 
probable or unnatural that they fhould declare that 
they believed that he was the Meffiah. Befides, it 

fhould 



( 75 ) 

Ihould be obferved that, by their continuing to 
follow him with fuch unfhaken perfeverance, they 
pretty ftrongly declared their full expectation that 
the time would come when he would publicly ma- 
nifeft himfelf as the Mejfiah. 

But this premature declaration of St. Peter, as 
it has been termed, that Jefus was the Meffiah, is, 
perhaps, beft accounted for by our Lord himfelf 
in the remarkable eulogium which St. Peter's noble 
confefllon drew from him, and. fully juftifies the 
fuppofition that his excellent inftru&ions, and the 
wonderful works which he had wrought, had com- 
pelled him to make it. V. 17, BleJ'ed art thou 
Simony Jon of Jonah ; for flefh and Mood hath not re- 
vealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven : 
q. d. Had you confulted flefh and blood only, 
your national prejudices and fecular views, with 
refpect to the nature of the MeffiaFs character, you 
would never, under the prefent circumftances and 
appearances of things, have made the acknowledg- 
ment which you have now done ; but the doctrines 
which I have taught you, and the miracles which 
I have performed in the name and by the autho- 
rity of my Father, have, upon this occafion, 
plainly influenced your judgment, contrary to all 
human appearances, and extorted from you a con- 
feflion which no other consideration could have in- 
duced you to have made. It is, indeed, hardly 
poflible to fuppofe that the difciples could have 
avoided giving our Lord a confiderable degree of 

credit^ 



( 76 ) 

credit, even upon their own principles, efpeciaily 
after they had iuch opportunities of knowing his 
general character, that he would, at a proper time, 
give them the neceflary proofs that he actually was 
the Meffiah. And that they did, in fact, give him 
that credit, and that Peter's declaration that he was 
the Meffiah, was founded upon it, feems to require 
no other proof than the queftions which they put 
to him at a period confiderably fubfequent to this ; 
for when .our Lord had been predicting the deftrue- 
turn of Jerusalem, they were fp amazed and con- 
founded at the prediction, fo contrary to all their 
ideas of the nature of the Meffiah" $ character y that 
they afked him, When Jhali theje things be? And if, 
as you fay, they muft be, What Jhall be the fign of 
thy coming? meaning, as will hereafter very fully 
appear, of his coming as the Meffiah. And, even 
after our Lord's refurrection, they again afked him, 
in terms which appear to be free from all ambi- 
guity, When he would reft ore the kingdom to Ifraelf 

This remarkable confeffion of St. Peter, being 
contrary to all prefent appearances, and to the 
general ideas which then prevailed among the Jews 
concerning the nature of the Meffiah' 's charafibr, it 
was evidently abfolutely necefiary that the difciples 
fhould not bp fuffered to make their opinion of 
him public. Our Lord, whole prudent attention 
to the circumftances* of things, appears never for 
a moment to have forfaken him, forefeeing the 
injurious confequences tp the fuccefs of his million 

of 



( 77 ) 

of fuch a public difclofure, thought it proper, upon 
the fame principles and for the fame reafons which 
had hitherto influenced his own conduct, to give 
his difciples a Uriel: injundtion not to tell any one 
that he was the Meffiab. V. 20, Then charged be his 
difciples that they Jhould tell no man that he zvas 
O xt^o;, the Chrift, or the MerTiah. g 

This caution, it has juft been hinted, perfectly 
harmonizes with our Lord's general conduct, as 
well as with his admirable precept to be wife as fer- 
pents and harmlefs as doves. And it was, for this ob- 
vious reafon, upon this occafion abfolutely necef- 
fary; becaufe, if once fuch an opinion (hould be 
dineminated amongft the great body of the people, 
by his own difciples, by thofe who were known to 
be upon the moft intimate footing with him, it 
might not only have created popular tumults and in- 
JurreElions in his favour, which he at all times ap- 
pears moft carefully to have avoided ; but, in all 
human probability, it would have entirely defeated 
the great and important purpofes of his million. 
The Author of Chriftianity not founded on Argu- 
ment, has, in his peculiarly infidious manner, 
dwelt much upon this prohibition of our Lord, 
and in general upon his extreme caution in re- 
fufing to declare that he was the Mejfiah but the 
reafon here ftated for this conduct, appears to be 
fo fetisfactory, that even infidelity itfelf rnuft be 

£ See the fame prohibition Mark viii. 30. Luke ix. 21. 

obliged 



( 78 ) 

obliged to acknowledge its force. And, in the 
prefent inftance, our Lord's prohibition muft be 
considered as one genuine and authentic evidence 
of the truth of the hiftory \ for it was upon no ac- 
count fafe or proper, under exifting circumftances, 
to have divulged the opinion that he was the Mef- 
fiahy when, from the difciples' own ftatement, it 
appears that they were fingular in that opinion. 

But our Lord did not flop here. He not only 
forefaw the abfolute neceflity of this prohibition ; 
but as he had, by his decided approbation of Sc. 
Peter's confefiion, acknowledged that he was the 
Meffiah, he clearly perceived the further neeeffity 
of effectually checking any propenfity which they 
might have to break through his injunction, and 
of reprefling any fecular views which might now, 
with redoubled force, begin to operate upon the 
minds of the difciples, with refpect to their beloved 
Matter's affuming the char after of the Meffiahl For, 
it muft carefully be noted, that though they had 
exprefsly acknowledged that he was the Meffiah, 
they .(till continued to retain all their worldly pre- 
judices concerning the nature of his char after* One 
decifive proof of this is, that even after his resur- 
rection they faid to him, Lord, wilt thou at this 
time refiore the kingdom to IJrael? It was, therefore, 
with the moft confummate wifdom that our Lord 
chofe this opportunity of informing them, in a 
very particular and circumftantial manner, of the 
fufferings which he himfelf, in the courfe of his 

miniftry, 



( 79 ) 

miniftry, had to undergo. And nothing, furely, 
could have been more admirably adapted for the 
obtaining of his purpofe than fuch a difcovery. 
V. 2r, From that time forth, i. e. from the time 
that he had charged them to tell no man that he 
was the Chrift, or the MerTiah, began Jefus to Jhew 
to his difciples, how that he muft go to Jerujakm and 
foffer many things from the Elders and chief Priefts and 
Scribes, and be killed, and raijed again the third 
day. 

When our Lord had forewarned his difciples of 
the great troubles to which they would be expofed 
in the execution of their commiflion of announcing 
the near approach of the Meffiah's kingdom, there is 
not the flighted intimation of their having expos- 
tulated with him upon the fubjecl, or that they 
(hewed the leafc fy mptom of diflatisfaction at the 
hardfhips of their lot ; though he, at the fame time, 
particularly informed them that they were fuch as 
awaited himlelf ; and for this reafon, probably, 
that they couid not, even upon their own prin- 
ciples, have expected that the great purpofes of 
his million, as the MelTiah, could be attained, 
without both themfelves and their beloved Mailer 
being expofed to fome difficulties. But no fooner 
did our Lord enter into further particulars, a$d 
foretel, in the clofeft connection with an acknow- 
ledgment made by themfelves, and with our Lord's 
decided approbation of that acknowledgment, that 
he was the Meffiah, that fuch fufferings awaited 

him 

3 



( 80 ) 

htm as would terminate in a violent and igno- 
minious death, and that from the hands of his own 
country men j from the elders, the chief priefts, and 
the fcribesj than they immediately took the alarm ; 
and well they might \ for fufferings like thefe, and 
from fuch a quarter too, were fo totally incom- 
patible with all the ideas which they had previoufly 
affixed to the MeJJiatis character > that they could 
no longer keep filence. V. 22, Then Peter took him 
end began to rebuke him y faying, Be it far from thee % 
Lord; this Jball not be imto thee. 

This language pretty ftrongly marks St. Peter's 
fcntiments of our Lord's prediction. But the 
evangelical hiftoiians have expreffed, with peculiar 
emphafis and energy, the extreme aftonifhment of 
the difciples at this deeply affecting, and, to them, 
Et that period more efpecially, mod unwelcome 
intelligence ■> for in the next chapter, upon the 
fame fubject being renewed, St. Matthew fays, 
ver. 1 j, *Ai>7rv,G>j<rav cr(poJpa, they were filled with ex* 
treme grief at the news. St. Mark's expreftlon is, 
if pofiible, ftill more forcible ; for it very ftrongly 
cxprefles the extreme perplexity into which they 
were thrown in confequence of this prediction, 
chap, ix* 32, nyvoGvv to p^a, they knew not what to 
make cf the matter* And St. Luke has precifely 
the fame fentiment, with this very expreffive and 
iemarkable addition, chap. ix. 45, that it was 
to&poLKEx&\vpp.£vov cc7r Kvtuvy hid from theniy or fb 
wrapt up in darknefs and myftery that they could 

noc 



c m ) 

hot tell what it could mean; i. e. their prejudice:; 
concerning the nature of the Meffiah's character 
plainly prevented them from comprehending how 
fuch a prediction could poffibly be compatible with 
his being the Mejjiah. In the 1 8th chapter this 
prediction is again repeated^ and St, Luke fays, 
ver. 34, tfhey underftood none of theje things, and 
this matter, to pt^cc tq-jto, was hid from them i 
neither knew they the things which were fpoken ; 'n e 0 
they did not comprehend its meaning. 

The evidence that the prejudices of our Lord's 
difciples were the real caufes of their extreme 
aftonifhment at his prediction, and of their not 
understanding him, it would be utterly impofiible 
for any one who reflects with impartial attention 
upon the nature and circumftances of the, cafe, to 
entertain a doubt of, even if our Lord had not 
himfelf particularly pointed it out ; but his reply- 
to St. Peter's exclamation, that no fuch fufferings 
as he had predicted mould befal him, renders it 
abfolutely decifive^ Matt. xvi. 23, Get thee behind 
me, Satan,, thou art an offence, or rather, as Bifhop 
Pearce has tranflated and paraphrafed it, " thou art 
an adverfary unto me, in throwing difficulties in my 
way, by urging the motive of felf-prefervation 
againft my going on with what I am about to ac- 
compli Ih 5" for thou Javourefi not ra tov Gt-ou, the things 
of God, or fpiritual things; . buc ,t« tou AvOcwttou, the 
things of men, or temporal things ; mod evidently 
alluding, in the former exprefliom to the fpirituai 

G nature 



( 82 ) 

nature of the MeMiah's kingdom ; and in the latter, 
to their expectation that the Meffiah was to be a 
temporal prince. 

St. Luke has given a very ftrong, and, as it 
fliould feem, an unequivocal proof, that prejudice 
was the real caufe of their not undemanding our 
Lord ; for, upon the evangelifl's faying, that they 
underilood not his prediction concerning his death, 
that it was hid from them, and that they perceived it 
not, he adds, in the following verfe, that then there 
arcfe a reasoning among them/elves which of them Jhould 
be greaiefiy \, e. who fhould fill the mod exalted 
ftations in the kingdom of the Meffiah. This I think 
ihews, not only that they did not underfland what 
our Lord's prediction could poffibly mean, but that 
they did not at all imagine that it would take 
place, A limilar contention is alfo recorded by 
St. Matthew upon another occafion, chap, xviii. i. 
And it appears, from the clofe of the preceding 
chapter, to have been occafioned by our Lord's 
having wrought a miracle to fatisfy the demands 
of the gatherers of the tribute money ; for it is 
faid, that at that time the difciples came to Jefus, fay- 
ing* or rat her, who fhall be, the greateft in 
the kingdom of heaven, or of the Meffiah ? It feems 
as if this miracle had fired their imaginations with 
the profpect of the fplendid fcenes which they 
fhould enjoy, when the time came that our Lord 
fhould declare himielf as the Meffiah ; having in 
this inftance, as well as in many others, Ihewa 

that 



( 8 3 ) 

that he had all nature at his command. All 
thefe circumftances mud, I think, be admitted as 
authentic evidences of the truth of the hiftory ; pre- 
fenting to the mind of the reader, at lead:, as fair 
a claim to credit, as any hiftory, ancient or mo- 
dern, can poflibly produce. And it may not, 
perhaps, be improperly added, that they are evi- 
dences of that kind, that they will lofe nothing of 
their weight by any lapfe of time; for if hiftorical 
evidence be genuine, it pofTefles this very im- 
portant advantage, that the more clofely it is fcru- 
tinized, the more fatisfactory it will appear, whe- 
ther it be at the diftan.ee of one, or of thoufands of 
years. 

It being then indifputably evident, that the dif- 
ciples of our Lord were influenced, chiefly by 
views of worldly ambition, when they fo ftrongly 
remonftrated with him on account of his prediction, 
of his fufferings and death, faying, Be it far from 
thee> Lord-, this /hall not be unto thee \ What line 
of conduct was it natural for him upon fuch an 
©ccafion to purfue ? What line of conduct: did he 
actually purfue ? Why, precifely that which he 
had with fo much firmnefs and intrepidity already 
purfued, when he gave them their commiffion to 
announce the near approach of the Meffiaifs kingdom ; 
for as, in that inftance, he did not ftiun to declare 
to them, in the ftrongeft terms, what fufferings 
they would haye to undergo, and the neceffity of a 

G 2 Heady 



( 84 1 

fteady perfeverance in the faithful dileharge of tiieu ; 
duty, whatever might be the confequcnce ; fo he 
doth here. Ver. 24, If any man will come after me, 
i. e. if he will be my difciple, let him deny bimfelf- 
and take up his crcfs and follow me: q. d. the fuf- 
ferings and confequent^death which I have pre- 
dieted 5 as about to come upon me, have given you 
great offence,- as oppofing your lofty and ambitious 
views of worldly profpirity under the feign of your 
Meffiah ; but I now tell you again, that if you 
would follow me with fidelity, you muft deny 
yourfelves, by giving up thofe worldly purfuita- 
whidh have obtained fuch a powerful afcendence in 
your minds, and you muft take up your crofs as I 
do mine, and muft expecl to meet with the fame, 
or fimilar fbfferingsy in the faithful difcharge of 
your duty. Our Lord then adds, ver. 25, nearly 
in the words which 5 he had formerly made ufe of in 
chap. x. 39, Ffhofoever will Jaw his Ufe, by meanly 
fhrinking from his duty, on account of any fuch 
fufferings, fhall lofe it. And whofoever fhall lofe his 
life for my fake, fmll-find it \ i. c. he fli all find it in 
a future ftate, where everlafting life fhall be be- 
llowed upon him, as a reward 1 for his fidelity. In 
the two following verfes, the fuperior advantages 
of preferring duty to intereft, however extenfive, 
are fet in the ftrongeft light which it is in the 
power of language to convey ; for,- fays our Lord*, 
What is a man profited, if he JbaU gain the whoh 

world 



I H ) 

world and -lofe his 4-zvn life ? or, What flail a -mm 
give in exchange for his life ? No equivalent, in the 
.whole world, can be found for it. h 

Although it cannot, I think, be denied that our 
Lord, in the ufe of this language, had an eye to 
the rewards of a future ftate, yet it appears to me s 
that he intended to intimate to his difciples, that 
by a faithful adherence to him, they would be pre- 
ferred from the awful calamities which were coming 

h The note of Dr. Whitby upon thefe verfes appears to me 
to be deferring of attention. " That the word ^XV ^ ou ^ 
be here rendered life, rather than foul, in the fublimer ac- 
ceptation of the word, feems highly probable, 'from thefe con- 
siderations : ] ft, becaufe Chrift, who came to fave men's fouls, 
could not require x£ any perfons that they fhould lofe their 
fouls in the word fenfe, but only that they fhould hiy dawn 
their lives for his fake. 2d, Becaufe in the Old Teftament 
this phrafe continually occurreth in this fenfe, where rrjpsiv fyy 
fyvx r i y > Prov. xiii. 3. xvi. 1/. xix'. l6. xxiii. 14. (rcvcrai rr t v 
ty' J X r t v ' x ^ mos u - ]5 - ^ s i0 preferve life. — fjrcci rr t v ipvffiv, 
Ffalm vi. i-J. i. 2, is to deliver us from death. — ccfioXacrai ry.v 
yyyjy, Ffalm xxvL Q. to lofe life or .-die. 3. Becaufe it fre- 
quently occurs in profane authors in this fenfe, as when we 
read in Agathius (L. 3. p. 80.) What if we gain all Perfia^, 
fag os fyuyjt-s ej^awpsvo;, but lofe our lives ? And Achilles, in 
Hbmer, ('11. J. v. 401 .) 'fays, gv yap su.oi ^vyyjs aylafyoy a\AO t 
Nothing is comparable to my life." ' 

Dr. Campbell fays, " That our Lord has a principle eye to 
the lofs of the foul, or of eternal life, there can be no doubt. 
But this fentiment is coached under a proverb, which, in fa- 
miliar ufe, concerns only the prefent life. That i'vyy is fuf- 
ceptible of both meanings is beyond a queftion." See Camp- 
^;11 in toe. 

G 3 u.per. 



( ) 

upon the Jewifh nation. And from an attentive 
perufal of the phrafeoiogy made ufe of by our 
Lord, in defcribing thofe calamities, I am ftrongly 
inclined to think that he meant to afifert this, when, 
in the 27th verfe, he fays, For the Son of Man Jhall 
come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, or 
rather with his meflengers, and then he Jhall reward 
every one according to his works. 

The prefent Bifhop of London, having quoted 
the following paffage, Matt. xxiv. 30, "They Jhall 
fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
power and great glory, and he Jhall fend bis angels 
with a great found of a trumpet, i£c. fays, " Few 
people, I believe, read thefe verfes without fup- 
pofing that they refer entirely to the day of judg- 
ment, many of thefe expreffions being actually ap- 
plied to that great event in the very next chapter, 
and in other parts of fcripture: and indeed feveral 
eminent men and learned commentators are of that 
opinion, and imagine that our Lord here makes a 
tranfition from the deftruction of Jerufalem to the 
end of the world, conceiving that fuch very bold 
figures of fpeech could not, with propriety, be ap- 
plied to the fubverfion and extinction of any city 
or ftate, however great and powerful. But," fays 
the bifhop, in my opinion very properly, tc the 
fact is, that thefe very fame metaphors do fre- 
quendy in fcripture denote the deftruclion of na- 
tions, cities, and kingdoms V 

Again, 

3 See the Bifhop of London's Leftures, p. 157-8. vol. ii. 

And 



( §7 ) 

Again, the learned bifhop, upon Matt. xxvi. 64, 
Hereafter ye jhall fee the Son of Man fitting on the 
right hand of power , and coming in the clouds of hea~ 
ven, fays, f< Sitting at the right hand of power, 
means fitting at the right hand of God, to whom 
the Jews fometimes give the appellation of power; 
and coming in the clouds of heaven, was with the Jews 
a characterifiic mark of the Mefllah. And the 
whole pafTage relates not to the final judgment, 
but to the coming of Chrift to execute vengeance 
on the Jews in the defcruclion of Jemfalem by the 
Romans." k 

It will hereafter appear, with an evidence bor - 
dering upon demonftration, that both thefe paf- 
fages relate exclufively to the deftruclion ofjerufalem. 
In the mean time, it appears to me highly pro- 
bable, that when our Lord fays, in the verfe under 
confideration, T'he Son of Man Jhall come in the 
glory of his Father with his angels, he refers like wife 
to that awful event, efpecially as it is faid in the 
verfe immediately following, Verily, I fay unto you, 
there are fome flanding here who jhall 7tot tafte of death 
till they fee the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. 

The only objection to this interpretation of the 

And in page 160, he fays, " Our Lord himfelf explains what 
is meant by the coming of the Son of Man, in the 27th, 28th, 
and 3/th verfes of this chapter ." to wit, of his " coming to 
execute judgment on the guilty Jews, by the total overthrow 
of their temple, their city, and their government." 

See the Bifhop of London's Lectures, vol. ih p. 227-S. 

G 4 27th 



( 83 ) 

»yth verfe of any weight, that I can perceive, is, 
that the concluding fente nee, the rendering to every 
man according to his works, has been fuppofed 
to be applicable only to the final judgment. But 
this and fimilar phrafes are frequently ufed in 
the Old Teftament to denote the execution of 
temporal judgments, as will appear from the note 
below. 1 

Mr. Le Clerc, in his note upon the 28th verfe, 
fays, " Jefus Chrift has repeated this promife to St. 
John, chap. xxi. 22, of his gofpel. This circum- 

1 Jeremiah xvii. 10, / the Lord fearch the heart, I try 
the reins, even to give to every man according to his ivays, and 
accord'nig to the fruit of his doings. Chap. xxi. 14, 1 ivill 
■pimijh you according to the fruit cf your do'mgs. Chap, xxxii. 
lg, Thine eyes are oJ>en upon all the ivays of the fons of men, to 
give to every one according to his ivays, and according to the fruit 
of his doings. The fame prophet., fpeaking of the dovvnfal of 
Babylon, fays, chap. 1. 2Q, llecompenfe her according to herivork. 
Hofea xii. 2, The Lord hath a controverfy tvith fudah, and ivill 
punifn Jacob according to his ivays ; according to his doings ivill 
he recompenfe him. 

It appears to me, that all thefe pafTages have a fpecial rer 
lation to temporal calamities \ and I muft confefs I fee nothing 
forced or unnatural in applying the verfe in queltion to the. 
deftruciion of Jerufalem. In my work which is before the 
public, entitled, The Triumphs cf Chriflianity, &c. I had 
thought differently of its meaning ; nor would I be very po- 
sitive which is the true one. In adopting this, I have thought 
it the mod probable of the two; but the reader, who com- 
pares them, will form -his own judgment which is to be pre- 
ferred. 

fiance 



( 8 9 ) 

(lance flievvs clearly that we ought to underftand 
the coming of our Lord, of which he here fpeaks, 
of what happened during the life of St. John. He 
fays, moreover, i. that it fhall be with his angels ; 
2. that it fhall be to render to every one according 
to his anions. We find nothing at that period to 
which thefe two circumftances can agree, but the 
deftruclion of Jerufalem." 

I cannot finifh my obfervations upon the chapter 
under consideration, without remarking that the 
28th verfe is probably one of thofe paflages upon 
which Mr. Gibbon has founded his declaration that 
pur Lord foretold his Jecond coming in the generation 
in which he lived. But, it mud be evident be- 
yond difpute, that the converfation with which it 
is connected was not about his Jeccnd> but his firjl 
coming as the Meffiah. And, as our Lord had 
predicted his Sufferings and death, which the dif- 
ciples could not conceive to be compatible with 
his being the Meffiah, it was indifpenfably necefTary 
that he mould fix a period when they mould be 
fatisfied that he had afTumed the character of the 
Meffiah; for, without an affurance to this pur- 
pofe, it is not to be imagined that the difciples 
could have continued to follow him. 

Befides, it ought to be obferved, in order to fix 
the true fenfe of this verfe, that the original de- 
claration of our Lord, that the kingdom of heaven, 
or of the Meffiah, was at hand, naturally leads the 

reader 



( 9° ) 

reader to underftand his coming in his kingdom* of 
his coming as the Meffiah ; for it can now, I think, 
need no proof that the gofpel hiftory is an hiftory 
of the controverfy concerning the nature of the Mef- 
fiah'' s character, and was intended to confirm the 
truth of his affertion, that his kingdom was ?iear at 
hand. Verily, 1 Jay unto you, there are fome Jianding 
here who Jhall not tafte of death till they fee the Son of 
Man coming in his kingdom, m 

The evangelifts have not informed us whether 
this aftu ranee of our Lord of his coming, as the 
Meffiah, had the effect of removing any doubts 
arifmg from his prediction of his fufFerings and 
death but, from the hifto r y of the transfiguration, 
related in the beginning of the next chapter, it may, 
I think, fairly be inferred, that though it prevented 
their deferting him, yet they were by no means 
fatisfied that fuch a prediction was compatible with 
the nature of the Meffiah 's character. This hiftory 
of the transfiguration was evidently calculated to 
remove this dififatisfaction, and to give his difciples 
a new and diftinguifned proof that he was the 
Meffiah. That this was the chief defign of the 
transfiguration, appears to me evident beyond a 
doubt, from the conclufion, ver. 5, While Peter 
yet fpake, behold a bright cloud overfhadowed them* 
and behold a 'voice came out of the cloud, faying, This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pie of ed ; hear ye 
him. 

ra See Mark viii, 38. Luke ix. 26, 27. 

The 



( fi ) 

The prcfent Bifhop of London, indeed, fpeaking 
of the transfiguration, fays, Cf It was a fymbolical 
reprefentation of Chrift's coming in glory to judge 
the world, and of the rewards which (hall then be 
given to the righteous." But there appears to be 
no ground whatever for fuch an affertion, either in 
the hiftory itfelf, or in St. Peter's own account of 
it, in his fecond epiftle. If we confult the hiftory, 
we find it related that to face did fhine as the fun, that 
his raiment was white as the light, that Mvfes and 
Elias appeared and converfed with him, and that a 
bright cloud cverJJjadowed them ; but not a word is 
there about Chrift's coming in glory to judge the 
world, nor any thing at all like it n ." 

If, from the original tran fact ion, we turn to St. 
Peter's account, we fhali be ftiil more fully con- 
vinced that he has no allufion to any thing of the 
kind, any more than the evangelift. IVe have not, 
he fays, followed cunningly 'devifed fables when we 
made known to you, 3vvxy.iv, the miraculous power 
and coming of our Lord Jefus Chrifi, as the Meiliah, 
but iv ere eye-witneffes cf his majefty ; for he received 
from God the Father, honour and glory ; when there 
came fuch a voice to him from the excellent glory, 
'This is my beloved fon in whom I am well pleajed. 

■ St. Luke particularly mentions, that the converfation 
turned upon the deceafe that he fhould accomplish at Jerufa- 
lem ; but I know not upon what authority the Bifhop fays 
that a general refurrection and a da} r of retribution are repre- 
sented in the transfiguration. See his Leciures, vol. ii, p. 14. 

And 



( 9* ) 

0nd this voice, which came from heaven,, we beard 
when we were with him in the holy mount. St. Peter 
appears to have overlooked all the other circum- 
(tances attending the transfiguration, and confines 
himfelf entirely to that which was the great objecl: 
of it, viz. the declaration from heaven that he was 
the beloved Son of God 0 , 

The 

° The learned Bifhop plainly understands the coming of 
-our Lord Jefus Chrift, in the l£>th verfe,- of his coming to judge 
the world at the Jaji day; but the whole of the apoftle's reason- 
ing compels us to underftand it of his co7?iing as the Meffiah, 
and the fubfequent part of the chapter is, in my humble opi- 
nion, a demon ftrative proof that this, and this only, was his 
meaning, though I think it has not been accurately under- 
ftood, from not attending to our Lord's having connected his 
coming as the'Meffiah with the dejiruclion of Jerusalem. Ver. 
19, We have, fays the apoftle, ?ov 7Tpo<pY t riKOv Xvyw, the pro- 
phetic ivord concerning his coming, (ospcciorsoov, more con- 
firmed; but how more con£rmed? Why, by the ligns which 
are now appearing of the near approach of the deflrutfion of J'e- 
rufalem, whereunto, fays the' apoftle, ye do tvell that ye take 
heed, as unto a light that Jhineth in a dark place, until the day 
daivn, and that which bringeth the full blaze of light, (pocc^ocvc, 
fliall arije to illuminate your hearts, and in the fuller! manner 
convince you that we have not followed cunningly devifed fables 
when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord 
Jefus Chrijl, Knowing thisfirfl, as the foundation of our con- 
fidence in the accompliihment of his prediction of the deftruc- 
tion of Jerufalem, that no prophecy is of private interpretation j 
or, rather, of private fuggeflion, (fee the Churchman's Maga- 
zine, vol. ii. p. 12), or of human invention ; for prophecy ca?ne 
not, tfore, formerly by the will, or at the pleafure, of men; but 

holy 



C 93 ) 

The learned Blfhop having, as I conceive, without 
any authority from the hiftory of the transfiguration,, 
or from St. Peter's account of it, introduced our 
Lord's refurreclion- and exaltation, and a future day 
of retribution, is much perplexed to afiign afufficient 
reafon why the injunction of fecrecy till after his 
refurreclion mould have been given. " Becaufe,'*' 
fays the Bifhop, 45 he had already foretold his refur- 
reclion to- his difeiples, and he alfo apprized them 
before his death of his coming in glory to judge 
rhe world. It does not therefore appear how the 
publication of the vifion on the mount could have 
been attended with any other confequence than that 
of confirming what Jefus had already made known-. 
But if we fuppofe that one purpofe of the transfigu- 
ration was to typify the abolition of the ceremonial 
kw and the eftablifhment of the es'angelical, a plain 

hAy men of God fpake as they ivere moved by tlie Tloly Ghoft, and 
confequently were entitled to the fulleft credit. 

The whole of this argument appears to me to be peculiarly 
forcible and convincing, and to harmonize mot! exactly with 
the gofpel hiftory, and particularly with our Lord's manner of 
connecting the full proof of his coming as the Median with 
the dejiruclwn of 'J'erujale??i. As the days of Noah vuere } fo Jliall 
the true nature of the coming of the Son of Man. be. And as 
our Lord had particularly directed his difeiples to ivatch for 
this awful event, the apoftle very properly fays, of fome figns 
of its near approach which were then appearing, ivhereunto ye 
do uuell that ye take heed, as to a light f /lining in a dark £taee, 
which will loon burft out in full .fplendor. 

reafon 



( ?4 ) 

reafon prefents itfelf for this command of keeping 
it for fome time private." 

But, with all due fubmiffion to the learned Bifhop, 
is not this fuppofition altogether as unfounded in 
the Biftory of the transfiguration as the other ? Is 
there one word faid that the transfiguration was to 
typify the abolition of the ceremonial law? I mud 
confefs my fagacity is not equal to the difcovering 
any fuch typification, and I am fure it is not necef- 
fary, in order to afford a plain reafon for our Lord's 
charging his difciples to tell the vifion to no man till 
the Son of man was rijenfrom the dead. In the pre* 
ceding chapter , ver. 20, he had charged his difciples 
that they fhould tell no man that he was the Chrift^ or 
the Mefllah, and the principal object of the trans- 
figuration being to give them a divine atteftation 
of his being the beloved Son of God, the charge was 
again repeated, and for the fame reafon ; for it was 
not yet proper that he fhould publicly be declared 
to be the MeJJiah. And this, it mufl be obferved, 
perfectly harmonizes with the general tenor of the 
gofpel hiftory, as an hiftory of the controverfy be- 
tween our Lord and the Jews concerning the true 
nature of the MeffiaVs character • 

The reader's attention is now requeued to the 
2.4th chapter of Matthew, as affording ftill clearer 
evidence that the gofpel hiflory is an hiftory of this 
controverfy* This chapter begins with our Lord's 
prediction of the deflruclion of Jerufatem, and it is 
thus introduced. Ver, 1, And Jefus went out and 
7 departed 



( 95 ) 

departed from the temple, and his difciples came to him 
to Jhew him the buildings of the temple. When they 
had taken a furvey of this magnificent pile of build- 
ings, which, for art and beauty, was efteemed the 
wonder of the world, our Lord faid to them, ov 
j3AE7T£re nxvroc mu.ra ; See ye not all theje things, or 
look not on all thefe things with exceffive admi- 
ration. Verily I fay unto you, there ft) all not be left 
here one ftone upon another that fhall not be thrown 
down. 

The aftoniflhment which this awful prediction 
produced upon the minds of the difciples, who (till 
continued to entertain the moft fplendid ideas of 
the profperity of their nation under the reign of 
their Mefliah, may eafily be conceived $ and it is 
reprefented in a very natural and lively manner, by 
the queftions which, upon this occafion, they im- 
mediately put to him. So contrary was this pre- 
diction to every idea which, as Jews, they had 
been accuftomed to entertain, that they could not 
help exclaiming, When JhaU thefe things be? and if 
they muft be, for that is evidently the ellipfis to 
be fuppiied. What fhall be the fign of thy comings 
and of the end of the world, or age ? ? 

p " By the end of the world/' fays the prefent Bimop of 
London, " is to be underftood, not the final confummation of 
all things here below, but the end of that age, the end of the 
Jewifh ftate and polity;, the fubveffion of their city, temple, 
and government." See his Leflnres, vol. it p. 139, HO, See 
alio the Appendix to my Key, No. I, 

That 



C 95 ) 

That by our Lord's coming, the difciples here 
meant his coming, not as the judge of the world, but 
as the MeJRah, is, I think, demonftrably evident ; 
not only from the general tenor of the hiftory, and 
from their acknowledged expectations of his coming 
as the Meffiah, ftill entertained by them, but from 
his immediately proceeding, in fo particular a 
manner, to caution them againft falfe Chrifts and 
falfe prophets who fhould come in his name, or 
with his pretenfions to the char after of the MeJJiah, 
and by his again and again, in the courfe'of the 
awful narrative, repeating the fame caution. Yen 
4, fake heed that no man deceive you ; for many foall 
come in my name, faying, I am O yji<rc>, the Chrift, 
or the Meffiah, and fhall deceive many. And again, 
ver. 23, Then, i. e. when the things he had juft 
been defcribing are coming to pafs, if any man fhall 
Jay unto you, ho, here is O x? l ~°$3 i ^ oe thrift, or the 
Meffiah, cr there, believe him 710 1 ; for there fhall 
arife falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets, and they fhall 
fhew great figns and wonders, infomuch that, if it were 
foffihle, they fhall deceive even the very ekcl. And 
that thefe cautions^ thus again and again repeated, 
might make the deepen: impreffion upon their 
minds, our Lord makes this very impreflive and 
remarkable addition, ver. 25, 26, Behold 1 have 
told you before ; wherefore if they, viz. the falfe pro- 
phets, ftjall Jay unto you, Behold he, the Meffiah, is 
in the defer t, go not forth after him ; behold he is in 
the fecret chambers, waiting for a fit opportunity of 

declaring 



( 97 I 

"declaring hirhfelf as the MefTiah, believe them not* 
And that they might be completely upon their 
guard againft their deceptive arts* he ftill further 
tells them, that the nature and manner of his coming 
would be fo confpicuous, that an attentive and dif- 
cerning obferver could not poffibly miftake its 
Ver. 27, For as the lightning comet h out of the eaft, 
and jhineth even unto the weft \ jo jhall alfo the true 
nature and manner of the coming of the Son of Mg§> 
the Meffiah, for perfpicuity, be. 

But, to prevent this language from being mif- 
underftood, or applied to any other event than to 
the infliction of punifhment on the Jews, in the 
dejiriiclion of Jerufalem 3 our Lord, in a fubfequent 
part of the chapter, very fully explains what 
meant by the phrafe, the coming of the Son of Man. 
Ver. 37, As the days of Noah were, which un- 
queftionably were days of great temporal ven- 
geance,/^ he fays, Jhall alfo the nature of tU 
coming of the Son of Man be. And, yet further to 
exemplify the nature of his comings and to render 
his meaning perfect, clear, and difein<5t a he applies 
the cafe of Noah to that of the Jews* Ver* 38-9, 
For as in the days that were before the flood, they 
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in 
marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 
and knew not their danger till the flood came and took 
them all avjay , fo Jhall alfo the true nature of the 
coming of the Son of Man be, in oppofition to the 
manner in which the Jews expected him to come 

H a3 



( 9S ) 

as a temporal prince, to raife them to the mod dif- 
tinguifhed pre-eminence as the lords of the world. 

The meaning of the 27th verfe being thus fully 
afcertained by the ufe of the fame phrafe in the 
37th and 30th verfes, our Lord goes on to explain, 
by a proverbial exprefiion, by what means this 
deftruction fhould be effected. V er. 28, For where- 
fcever the car cafe is, there will the eagles, the Roman 
army, whofe ftandard is the eagle, be gathered to- 
gether. The Bifhop of London, upon this verfe, 
fays, " By the carcafe is meant the Jewifli nation, 
which was morally and judicially dead ; and the 
inflruments of divine vengeance, that is, the Ro- 
man armies, whofe ftandards were eagles, would 
be colle-Sled together to devour their prey." 

In the verfe immediately following, the effects 
of this awful cataftrophe are defcribed in fuch ftrong 
language, as to have led many commentators to 
fuppofe that it refers entirely to the day of judgment, 
conceiving, to ufe the Bifhop of London's own 
exprefiion, that fuch very bold figures could not, 
with propriety, be applied to the fubverfion and 
extinction of any city or (late, however great and 
powerful. " But the fact," the Bifhop very pro- 
perly obferves, ct is, that thefe very fame meta- 
phors," ufed in this verfe, tc do frequently in fcrip- 
ture denote the deftrudion of nations, cities, and 
kingdoms. Thus Ifaiah, fpeaking of the deftruc- 
tion of Babylon, fays, Behold the day of the Lord 
Cometh^ cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay 

the 



( 99 ) 

the land defolate ; and he Jhall deftroy the finners thereof 
cut of it : For the ftars of heaven and the conjlellations 
thereof Jhall not give their light ; the fun jhall be 
darkened in his going forth y and the moon Jhall not 
caufe her light to Jhine. (Ifa. xiii. 9.) And, in al- 
moft the fame terms, he defcribes the puniftiment 
of the Idumeans, (ch. xxxiv. 34.) and of Senna- 
cherib and his people, (ch. li. 6.) Ezekiel fpeaks 
in the fame manner of Egypt, (ch. xxxii. 7, 8.) ; 
and Daniel of the (laughter of the Jews, (ch. viiL 
10.); and what is (till more to the point, the pro-- 
phet Joel defcribes this very deftruclion of Jeru- 
falem in terms very fimilar to thofe of Chrift. 
(Ch. ii. 30, 3 1 .) / will Jhew wonders in the heavens 5 
and in the earthy blood, and fre y and pilars of fmoke* 
The fun Jhall be turned into darknefs> and the moon . 
into bloody before the great and terrible day of the Lord 
Jhall come." 

"It is evident then/' adds the Biihop, <c that 
the phrafes here made ufe of, of the fun being 
darkened, and the moon not giving her light, and 
the ftars failing from heaven, and the powers of 
heaven being fhaken, are figures meant to exprefs 
the fall of cities, kingdoms, and nations ; and the 
origin of this fort of language is well illuftrated by 
a late very learned prelate (Bifhop Warburton), 
who tells us, that in ancient hieroglyphic writing, 
the. fun, moon, and ftars, were ufed to reprefent 
ftates and empires, kings, queens, and nobility ; 
their eclipfe or extinction denoted temporary dif- 

H 2 afters, 



( ico ) 

afters, or entire overthrow, &c. So the prophets 
in like manner call kings and empires by the names 
of the heavenly luminaries. Stars falling from the 
firmament are employed to denote the deftruction 
of the nobility and other great men infomuch, 
that in reality the prophetic ftyle feems to be a 
/peaking hieroglyphic." See the 19th Lecture p. 157, 
1 58-9 

The 30th verfe appears to be a direct anfwer to 
the queftion of the difciples j — What Jhall be the fign 
of thy coming ? Then, fays our Lord, Jhall appear the 
fign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then Jhall all the 
tribes of the earth, or rather of the land, mourn, and 
they Jhall fee the Son of Alan coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory*, and he Jhall fend 
his angels, or rather his meflengers, with the great 
found of a trumpet, and they Jhall gather together his 
eletl from the four winds, from the one end of heaven 
to the- other. 

The prophet Daniel, from whom the expreffion, 
the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of 
heaven, feems to be taken, fays, ch. vii, 13, I Jaw. 

q When I published my Triumphs of Chriitianity over In- 
fidelity in 1802, my investigation of this part of the fubjedt 
had been printed off before I had feen the Bifhop's- Le&ures. 
But the reader who will refer to it, may fee numerous quota- 
tions from the Old Teitament illuftrative of our Lord's ftyle- j 
and what is remarkable, this very quotation from Bifhop 
Warburton at full length. The fame view of the fubjeel: I 
had given fo far back as the year l/S", in a pamphlet entitled, 
An Attempt to Illuftrate vaiious Pafiages of Scripture. 

in 



( ioi ) 

n the night vifions, and behold one like the, or like a, 
Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and there 
was given him dominion, and glory , and a kingdom, 
that all people and nations and languages Jhonld Jerve 
him. When therefore the prophet fays, that the 
Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, he ap- 
pears to me to have intended to reprefent the na- 
ture and manner of his coming in the execution of 
vengeance, agreeably to our Lord's fubfequent ex- 
planation of it, viz. that it fhould be as in the days 
of Noah, when the people were engaged in all the 
occupations of human life, little thinking of, or 
expecting the flood which was about to overwhelm 
them. It muft likewife be obferved, that as 
clouds produce darknefs, and not unfrequently 
Jlgrms and tempefis in the natural world, which a're 
fometimes attended with the molt tremendous de- 
flation j the exprefiion became a very convenient, 
and at the fame time a very fignificant fymbol to 
denote great national calamities, and the ruin of 
ftates and empires. 

When therefore our Lord made ufe of this ex- 
prefiion, in the clofeft. connection with his predic- 
tion of the deftrucHon of Jerusalem, and in connec- 
tion too with the phrafe, the coming of the Son of 
Mari, fo often ufed in this very chapter, what bet- 
ter evidence can poflibly be required, that by the 
coming of the Son of Man in clouds, or in the clouds 
of heaven, was meant the nature and manner of his 
coming as the Median, and that by the defruflion 

H 3 of 



( 102 ) 



of Jerusalem it would fully appear how much the 
Jews had been miftaken when they fuppofed that 
he was to be a temporal prince^ to conduct them to 
conqueft and to empire r . 

The only expreflion, in thefe verfes, which feem 
now to require explanation, is our Lord's fending 
bis angels to gather his eleft from the four winds, from 
one end of heaven to the other. cc Thefe words," the 
Bifhop of London fays, ' c though they feem as if 
they could belong to no other fubjec~t than the laft 
day, yet mod afluredly relate principally to the 
great object of this prophecy, the deftruftion of Je- 
rufalem ; after which dreadful event we are here 
told, that Chrift will fend forth his angels ; that is, 

T The Bifhop of London, fpeaking of the 30th verfe, fey«, 
v Thofe awful words then fhall appear, the fign of the Son of 
Man in heaven 5 and then (hall the tribes of the earth mourn, 
and they {hall fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
heavenj and then mail all the tribes of the land mourn, and 
they mall fee the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory ; feem applicable folely to the laft 
advent of Chrift to judge the world ; and yet it is certain, 
that in their primary fignincation they refer to the manifesta- 
tion of Chrift's power and glory, in coming to execute judg- 
ment on the guilty Jews, by the total overthrow of their tem- 
ple, their city, and their government ; fpr fo our Lord him- 
ielf explains what is meant by the coming of the Son of Ma?i, 
in the 27th, 28th, and 37th, verfes of this chapter. A°d when 
the prophet Daniel is predicting this very appearance of Chrift 
to punifti the Jews, he defcribes him as coming in the clouds of 
heaven, and there ivas given him dominion, and glory, aiid q 
kingdom" See the Bhhop's 19th Le6tm'e, p. l60. 

his, 



( m ) 

his meftengers, or rninifters (for fo that word 
(triclly fignifies), to preach his gofpel to all the 
world ; which preaching is called, by the prophets, 
lifting up the voice like a trumpet} and they (hall 
gather together his elect (that is, (hall collect dif- 
ciples and converts to the faith) from the four 
winds, from the four quarters of the earth, or, as 
St. Luke exprcfles it, from the eaft and from the 
weft, and from the north and from the Couth." 

But that it might not be.poflible to miftake our 
Lord's meaning, he appears to have taken un- 
common pains to (hew that he fpake exclusively of 
what was foon to take place ; for, in the 3 2d verfe, 
in anfwer to the queftion of the difciples, When Jhall 
thefe things be? he fays, Now learn a parable, or 
inftrudtion, from the Jig-tree : When its branch is yet 
tender and put teth forth leaves, ye know that fummer is 
nigh ; fo likewife ye, when ye. Jhall fee all thefe things, 
the things which he had juft been defcribing, know 
that it, or, as St. Luke more fully exprefTes him- 
felf, thai the kingdom of God % is. near, even at the 

doors. 

s Air. Mede, though in general remarkable for his modeft y 
as a writer, has been very pofitive that the phraft*, the kingdom 
cf God, has here a very different meaning from (hat commonly 
ofed in the gofpel biftory. " I deny not," he fays, but firmly 
believe that Chrift's kingdom took place at his jirji coming ; 
but I utterly deny that to be. the kingdom our Saviour pro- 
prieties of Luke xxi. 31, and anfwerably in the other gofpels,'' 
And Dr. Edwards, in his note referring to this very patiiige of 
- H 4 St, 



( io 4 ) 

doors* This language, if it has, any meaning in it, 
is flrongly expreflive of contiguity, and cannot, I 
will venture to affirm, without extreme violence, 
not only to the connection and occafion of the dif* 
courfe, but, what is more to the purpofe, to the 
whole tenor of the gofpel hiftory, be underftood of 
any other event than of the very near approach of 
the kingdom of the Meffiah, which our Lord had orj- 

S.t. Luke, quotes Dr. Sykes as very candidly allowing, that by 
the kingdom of God, we are here to underftand its glorious 
jftate and perfection in a future world. And what is very re- 
markable, Dr. Edwards has, with equal confidence with Mr, 
Mede, afferted that any other interpretation would indeed be 
utterly groundiefs. But upon what grounds have thefe learned 
men made thefe bold and confident affertions ? It is not to be 
denied that the language of the parable very flrongly expreffes 
that this kingdom, whatever it was, was very near at hand. 
Nor do I think it can be denied, with any appearance of rea- 
fon, that by the kingdom of God, was meant the kingdom of 
the Meffiah declared by our Lord in his original language to, 
be at hand; or, if any one is hardy enough to deny this, the 
proofs which have been adduced that the queftion of the dif- 
ciples, What Jliall be the fig?i rf ihy coming /' relates to the 
coming of the Mcjfiah, will oblige him to retract his opinion. 
Befides, can it be denied, without denying the moft direct 
and pofitive evidence, without contradicting the whole tenor 
ot the gofpel hiftory, that the kingdom of God, or of the MeA. 
(iah, was expected, and ftill continued to be expected, both 
by the difciples of Jefus and by the whole Jewifh nation? And 
where could he have afferted its ?iear approach fo naturally and 
fo properly as when he had been annihilating-, by his predict 
t'a of the defiruclion.of j-erufalem, the very foundation of all 
their hopes of his being a temporal pincel 



( ios ) 

ginally declared to be at hand. Indeed it appears- 
to me utterly impofiible that the difciples of our 
Lord could have understood him in any other 
fenfe. 

But, as if this minute precifion was not fuffici- 
ently clear to exprefs his full meaning, our Lord, 
in the following verfe, goes on and fays, in terms 
of the greater!: folemnity and ftrength of language, 
ver. 34, Verily^ I fay unto you, this generation Jhall 
not pafs away till all thefe things- be fulfilled. And to 
give all poffible weight to this aflurance, he imme- 
diately adds, in the 35th verfe, Heaven and earth 
fball pafs away, but my words Jhall not pafs away. 
See alfo Mark xiii. 28, &c. and Luke xxi. 29; in 
both which evangelifts the connection and the lan- 
guage are precifely the fame. 

The late Bifhop Newton was fo ftrongly im- 
prefTed with the emphafis and energy of this lan- 
guage, that he thus forcibly expreffes himfelf upon 
it, " It is to me a wonder how any man can refer 
part of the foregoing difcourfe to the deftruflion of 
Jerufalem, and part to the end of the world, or any 
other diftant event, when it is faid fo pofitively in 
the conolufian, All thefe things jhall be fulfilled in 
this generation K It feemeth as if our Saviour had 
been aware of fome fuch mifapplication of his 
Words a by adding yet greater force and emphafis to 

1 For the meaning of the term generation, fee my former 
publication,, entitled, The Triumphs of ChrUtjanity oyer Infi- 
delity, in. the Appendix, No. II. 

his 



( io6 ) 

his affirmation, ver. 35, Heaven and earth Jhall pafs 
away, but my words jhall not pafs away. And yet 
this very prelate, with an inconfiftency that is truly 
aftonifhing, fays, almoft immediately afterwards* 
that fl fome of thele paffages, particularly verfes 29, 
30, and 31, in a figurative fenfe, may be under- 
flood of the deftruttion of Jerufalem ; but that in 
their literal fenfe, they can be meant only of the end 
cf the world! 1 ' 

With a like ftrength of language with Bilhop 
Newton, Dr. Macknight has obferved, that " our 
Lord has forbidden us to underftand any part of 
this prophecy, primarily (why primarily ?) of the 
deftruction of the world j having connected all its 
parts in fuch a manner, that the things foretold, 
whatever they are, muft have happened in clofe 
fucceiTion, For any interpreter to correcl ChrifVs 
language here, and to fay that in the 29th verfe, 
immediately after, fignifies two or three thou/and years 
after-, and that in the 34th verfe, all thefe things, 
fignifies only fome of them, is a liberty which cannot 
fafely be taken with his words/' See Macknight 
in loc. 

But thefe learned men are now no more, and if 
their opinion had died with them, it would have 
been cruelty to have taken any notice of it now 
tfhat they are incapable of defending themfelves; 
but when fuch a man as the prefent Bilhop of Lon- 
don becomes the profelTed advocate for this opi- 
nion, the, cauie of truth demands that it fhould be 

expofed 



( io7 ) 

cxpofed and confuted, as highly injurious to the 
perfpicuity of die facred writings. If it is de- 
fenfible, his abilities are amply fufficient for its 
fupport; but if not, I truft no offence can reafon- 
ably be taken that I have ventured to exprefs my 
entire difapprobation of it. " Our Saviour/' the 
Bifhop fays, " in the chapter before us, feems to 
hold out the definition of Jerufalem y which is his 
principal object, as a type of the dijjblution of the 
worlds which is the under part of the repre- 
fentation. By thus judicioufly mingling together 
thefe two important cataftrophes, he gives at the 
fame time fas he does in many other inftances) a 
mod interefting admonition to his immediate hear- 
ers, the Jews, and a mod awfql leflbn to all his 
future difciples; and the benefit of his predictions, 
inftead of being confined to one occafion, or to one 
people, is by this admirable management extended, 
to every fubfequent period of time, and to the 
whole Chriftian world V 

It 

y It has been excellently well obferved by Dr. Benfoii, 
"that we juftly condemn the anfwersof the heathen oracles as 
riddles, dark, pbfeure, vague, and indeterminate; capable of 
being turned many ways, without knowing certainly which 
fenfe was intended, or in what way they are to be underllood. 
But divine prophecies mould he intelligible, and have one de- 
terminate meaning, that it may be known when and how they 
areaccomplimed. We admire it as an excellence in Homer, 
and other celebrated writers of antiquity, that their meaning 

if 



( io8 ) 



It is of importance to be obferved, that the 
learned Bifhop attaches to this general remark, as 
he terms it, the greater!: confequence ; for he ex^ 
prefsly fays, it is cc a fort of key to the whole pro^ 
phecy, and will afford an eafy folution to feveral 
difficulties that occur in it." But it is peculiarly 
unfortunate that fo zealous an advocate for types,, 
and double meanings, and fecondary fignifications, 
ihould, in another part of his Leclures, have ex- 
preffed his difapprobation of them in the inter- 
pretation of fcripture > for lie exprefsly fays, that 
fC it is a rule admitted and eftabliihed by the beft 
and moft judicious interpreters, that in explaining 
the faced writings, we ought never, without the 
moft apparent and moft indifpenfable neceftity, 
allow ourfelves the liberty of departing from the 
plain, obvious, and literal meaning of the words." 
But where, in the prefent cafe, is the neceflity of 
departing from the plain, obvious, and literal 
meaning of the words? The learned Bifhop indeed 
fays, " the prophecy was probably intended by 
Jefus as a type and emblem of the difiblution of 
the world itfelf." But from whence does this pro- 
bability arife ? Not furely from the highly figura- 

h expreffed clearly: and may we not expeft, when God fpeaks 
tp men, that his meaning mould be expreffed in as clear and 
determinate a manner." See Benfon's Effay on the Unity of 
the Senfe of Scripture, prefixed to the fecond volume of his 
Paraphrafe. See alfo the Biihopof LandafFs Tracfo, in which 
this E,Tay is introduce^* 



( * c 9 ) 

tive language of the 29th and following verfes; for 
he fays, in the mod exprefs terms, that <c the fact 
is, that thefe very fame metaphors" do frequently in 
fcripture denote the detlrudion of nations, cities, 
and kingdoms." 

To the Bimop's obfervation, " that by judicioufiy 
mingling together thefe two important cataftrophes, 
the benefit of his predictions, inftead of being con- 
fined to one occafion, or to one people, is by this 
admirable management extended to every fubfe- 
quent period of time, and to the whole Chriftian 
world," it may, I think, be fairly replied, that 
our Lord has peremptorily difclaimed any fuch 
management, by confining, in as ftrong language 
as can be made ufe of, the whole of his prediction 
to that generation. And what is remarkable 
enough, we have the Bifhop's own teftimony > 
though interlarded with the word principally, that 
it is fo confined j for, fpeaking of the 35th verfe, 
he fays, 4C This by the way is an unanfwerable 
proof, that every thing our Lord had been faying 
in the preceding part of the chapter, related prin- 
cipally, not to the day of Judgment, or to any other 
very remote event, but to the definition of Jerufa-. 
km> which did in reality happen before that gene- 
ration had pafTed away." 

But to pioceed in the examination of the re- 
mainder of the chapter under confideration. Our 
Lord having, as has been obferved, mod energe- 
tically 



C »f ) 

sically aflerted, that the events which he had, in fo 
particular a manner, been defcribing, would take 
place in that generation, goes on in the 36th verfe 
and fays, Of that day and hour, or feafon when 
thefe things fhould happen, knowetb no man, no> not 
the angels, but my father only ; (t that is," fays the 
Bifhop of London, <c although the time when Jeru- 
falem is to be deftroyed, is, as I have told you, 
fixed generally to this generation, yet the precife 
day and hour of that event is not known to men or 
angels, but to God only." And he adds, that 
<fc this verfe cannot, without violence to the words, 
be applied to the final advent of Chrift " In the 
following verfes, our Lord further illuftrates his 
meaning, by an allufion to the well-known hiftory 
of Noah, which is fo clear as not to be miftaken. 
The Bifhop of London, having quoted thefe verfes, 
fays, in his peculiarly excellent manner, " When 
the defolation fhall come upon the city and temple 
of Jerufalem, the inhabitants would be as thought- 
lefs and unconcerned, and as unprepared for it, as 
the antediluvians were for the flood in the days of 
Noah. But as fome (more particularly the Chrif- 
tians) will be more watchful, and in a better ftate 
of mind than others, the providence of God will 
make a diftinction between his faithful and his dis- 
obedient Servants, and will protect and preferve the 
former, but leave the latter to be taken or deftroyed 
by their enemies; although they may both be in 

the 



( 1" ) 

the fame fituatlon of life, may be engaged in the 
fame occupations, and may appear to the world to 
be in every refpect in fimilar circum fiances." 

u Here," fays the Bifhop, w ends the prophetical 
part of our Lord's difcour fe ; what follows is alto- 
gether exhortatory. It may be called the moral of 
the prophecy, and is a practical application of it, 
not only to his immediate hearers, but to his dif- 
ciples in all future ages ; for this concluding ad- 
monition mod certainly alludes no lefs to the final 
judgment than to the defirutlion of Jerufalem y and 
applies with at lead equal force to both," 

I perfectly agree with the learned Bifhop, that it 
may be called the moral of the prophecy, and is a 
practical application of it; but further than this I 
cannot go with him, for it appears to me demon- 
Arable that this practical application of the moral 
of the prophecy relates to a watchfulnefs, not for 
the day of judgment \ but for the completion of our 
Lord's prediction. In the former part of this pre- 
diction he had particularly directed their attention 
to it. Ver. 25, Behold I have told you before. And 
in the 42^ verfe, he fays, Watch therefore ; for ye 
know not what hour your Lord doth come. And that 
the remainder of the chapter has an exclufive re- 
ference to this watchfulnefs for the deftruclion ofje- 
rufale?n y is extremely evident from the following 
chapter, which is an undoubted continuation of the 
fame fubject ; for the conclufion of the firft parable 
contained in it, is thus expre fifed : ver. 13, JVatch 

therefore-^ 



( l«* ) 

therefore ; for ye know neither the day nor the hour 
wherein the Son of Man cometh. Let the reader 
compare this language with that in the 36th and 
42d verfes of the preceding chapter, and he will 
foon be convinced that it has an exclufive relation 
to the fame fubje£L 

Such appears to me to be the genuine meaning 
of the whole of the 24th of Matthew, and the pa- 
rallel chapters of Mark and Luke, unincumbered 
by typical meanings and double fenfes, which not 
only diveft them of their fimplicity, and render 
them in a great meafure unintelligible, but bring 
great difcredit upon the Chriftian records x . It has, 
I think, been mo ft judicioufly obferved by Mr* 
Richards in his excellent Bampton Leclures, that 
the Gofpel difpenfation was final, It prepared not 
the way, nor looked forward to any other. It was 
not neceflary therefore to have recourfe to typical 
ceremonies or fecondary fenfes, either in the in- 
ftitutions, or in the predictions delivered by its holy 
founder, or his infpired A pottles." Mr, Richards 
- has added that, confequently no traces of them will 
be found in the New Teftament, if we except the 
remarkable inftance of a double meaning in the 
prophecy of our Lord, in which he intermingles the 
deftruclion of Jerusalem with the general judg- 

* I have compreflfed my examination of the 24th of Mat^ 
|hew in as fmall a compafs as I conveniently could - f but if the 
reader is defirous of feeing it more amply difcuffed, I beg leave 
to refer him to my late work, entitled, The Triu?nj>hs of Chrif- 
tianlty over Infidelity > from p, 80 to 131. 

merit/' 



( H3 ) 

ment." But how far this will be deemed an ex- 
ception, the reader is now fully able to determine j 
for my own part, I do not hefitate to fay, that I can- 
not confider this as an exception. In fupporting 
this opinion I have ventured to controvert that of 
the Bifhop of London, and I truft it will be found 
that I have been neither uncandid nor for a moment 
forgetful of the refped which is due to fo difiin« 
guifhed a character. 

I cannot however conclude my observations up- 
on this fubjecl: without quoting, with the warmeft 
approbation, the remark of Dr. Benfon in what 
manner the facred writings mould be ftudied. u It 
appears to me, he fays, that a critical interpreter 
of holy fcripture fhould fet out with this, as a firfl 
principle, viz. that no text of fcripture has more than 
one meaning. That one true fenfe, he fhould en- 
deavour to find out, as he would find out the fenfe 
of Homer or any other ancient writer. When he 
has found out that fenfe, he ought to acquiefce in it, 
and fo ought his readers too, unlefs, by the juft rules 
of interpretation, they can mew that he has mifV 
taken the pafTage, and that another is the one, jufb, 
true critical fenfe of the place." 

Before I proceed in the order of St. Matthew's 
narration, I muft beg leave to take fome notice of 
a converfation which palled between our Lord and 
the Jews concerning the eftablifhment of the king- 
dom of the Mejfiah, mentioned by Sn Luke, ch. xvii. 
20, &c. not only becaufe it has an evident relation 

I to 



( "4 ) 

to his controverfy with them, but becaufe it, as 
evidently, is parallel to the 24th of Matthew, and at 
the fame time, contains fome expreflions which have, 
very improperly, been applied to the day of judg- 
ment. The occafion of this converfation is thus 
ftated : And when he was demanded of the Pharifees 
when the kingdom of God fhould come y, he anfwered 
and faid, The kingdom of God cometh not with obfer- 
vation, i. e. as Bifhop Pearce has, very properly, 
explained it, The kingdom of the Mefliah, or of 
Chrift, is not to be of that kind that ye expect, and 
which has outward ihew and pomp to make it ob- 
fervable ; neither fhall they fay, Lo here or lo there, 
for behold the kingdom of God is among you, though 
you pretend to fee none of the figns of its ap- 
proach. 

I have, in my Triumphs of Chriftianity over In- 
fidelity, compared this chapter with the 24th 

i This is one of thofe paffages which, Mr. Mede fays, relates 
to the kingdom of a thoufand years, which the Apocalypfe in- 
cludes between the beginning and confummation of the great 
Judgment. But if the meaning of the queftion of the Pha- 
rifees is to be determined by the known and acknowledged 
fentiments which they at that period unqueftionably enter- 
tained concerning the nature of the MeJJiaKs charader, there 
eannot poffibly exift a madow of a doubt that this great man 
was miftaken, and that the Pharifees, when they put this qnef- 
tion, had no notion but of the temporal ettablimment of the 
kingdom of the Mefliah in their own time. The fubfequent 
past of the chapter h of itfclf a fufficient proof of this. 

chapter 



t rt$ ) 

chapter of St. Matthew, and (hall not repeat any 
thing I have there faid, farther than to fay, that 
when our Lord afferts, that the Jews would de- 
fire to fee one of the days of the Son of Man, and Jhould 
not fee it, he probably meant that they would never 
fee any fuch days of the Son of Man as they had 
figured to thernfelves, in the enjoyment of great na- 
tional profperity under the temporal reign of their 
MeiTiah. As a proof that this was his meaning, 
he fays there were thofe who would fay to them* 
See here or fee there he is, ready to make his ap- 
pearance and to afiume the character of the Mef- 
liah ; but, fays our Lord, go not after them nor follow 
them for as the lightning that lightneth out of the 
one part under heaven Jhineth unto the other part under 
heaven, fo Jhall alfo the Son of Man be in his day - } or, 
as St. Matthew explains it* fo Jhall alfo the true nature 
of the coming of the Son of Man, the Meffiah, for 
perfpicuity be. In the 26th and following verles, 
our Lord, as in St. Matthew's narration, refers 
them to the cafe of Noah, to which St. Luke adds 
that of Lot ; and then fays, the more fully to ex- 
plain his meaning, v. 30, Even thus Jhall it be 
when the true nature of the coming of the Son of 
Man, the Median, is revealed*. 

As the remainder of this chapter requires no ex- 

s This paflage very happily explains the Apoftle Peter's 
meaning in his 1(1 Epiftle, Ch. i. 5. See my Triumphs of 
Chriftianity, 

I 2 planation 9 



( trf- ) 

planation, I fhall proceed immediately to the confi- 
deration of the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, which 
contains the laft, the moft important, and the moil 
decifive proof, that the Gofpel hiftory is an hiftory 
of the great controverfy between our Lord and 
the Jews concerning the true nature of the MeJJiaFs 
character. In this chapter is detailed the hiftory 
of the arraignment, trial, and condemnation of our 
Lord, as a notorious malefactor and impoftor, for 
afluming the character of the MeJJiah. And as in 
this cafe it was abfolutely neceiTary, according to 
the ufual forms in judicial proceedings, to prove 
the fact that our Lord had laid claim to that cha- 
racter, the manner in which the Jewifh rulers 
conducted themfelves, in order to prove this fact, 
is particularly defer ving of the reader's attention. 
The hiftorian, in the 59th and following verfes, 
tells us, that the chief priefts and elders*, and atl the 
council, fought falje witnefs againft J ejus to put him to 
death, but found none ; yea, though many falfe witnejfes 
came, yet found they none to eftablifh the fact, that he 
had ever, throughout his whole miriiftry, affumed 
the char abler of the MeJJiah. How admirably is the 
authenticity of the preceding hiftory eftablifhed by 
this narration! And how ftrongly does it demon- 
ftrate the great wifdom of our Lord's conduct, in 
not publicly declaring that he was the MeJJiah, and 
in forbidding his difciples, when he had privately 
acknowledged to them that he was the Mefftah, to 

make 



( w ) 



make him known under that character, and in ta- 
king, at the fame time, the moil effectual meafures 
to enforce his injunction, by foretelling his own 
fufferings and death ! In how ftrong a point of view 
likewife does it fhow the extreme propriety, and even 
the abfolute neceffity, of the language which he did 
adopt, though it has, through ignorance, been 
moulded into a mo ft formidable objection to the 
truth and integrity of our Lord's character! For 
it appears, from the hiftory of our Lord's trial, that 
notwithstanding the wicked artifices of the Jewim 
rulers, they were, at length., conftrained to apply to 
our Lord himfelf, that, if poffible, they might ex- 
tort from him a confeffion that he had claimed the 
character of the Mejftah ; though mo ft certainly in 
direct violation of a fundamental maxim in judicial 
proceedings, that a man mould not be obliged to 
convict himfelf. 

When the witness who appeared againft him 
had delivered their evidence, fuch as it was, the 
high prieft addreffed our Lord, and afked him 
what he had to fay in his dcftncQ againft their ac~ 
cufatiom. V. 62. Anjvcereft thou nothing? What is 
it which thcfe witnefs againft thee? But Jefus, ac- 
cording to the expreftive language of the Evan- 
gelift, held his peace. The high prieft then, con- 
fcious of the deficiency of the evidence which had 
been given againft him, and finding that our Lord 
made no reply to his queftions, faid to him again* 

I 3 lad- 



( »8 ) 

I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether 
thou be the Chrift, or the Meffiah, the Son of God, 

Although our Lord well knew the fatal confe- 
quences to himfelf of an acknowledgement that he 
was the Meffiah, yet, being thus folemnly adjured 
as to the nature of his charaSfer, he, with a dignity 
fuitable to that high character, replied, Thou hafi 
/aid 5 i. e. thou haft faid the truth ; or, as St. Mark 
has it, / am. I do acknowledge that I am the 
Meffiah, and, as a proof that I actually do fuftain 
that character, I fay unto you cm apri ; or, as St. 
Luke has it, cmo tou wv, from the prefent time, 
as both thefe phrafes literally fignify, Jhallye fee the 
Son of Man, the Meffiah, fitting on the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 

If now there be any connection between the 
queftion of the Jewifli high prieft and the reply 
which our Lord made to it, if his meaning can be 
collected from the fituation and circumftances of 
things at the time of his fpeaking, it could be no 
other than this, that though he was in the hands 
of his enemies, about to be degraded, reviled, and 
condemned as a notorious malefatlor and impoflor, for 
afluming the charatler of the Meffiah, yet that the 
claim which he had now, in the moft public man- 
ner, made to that character was juftly foundecj ; and 
as a proof that it was fo, and that the Jews had total- 
ly miftaken its true nature, in fuppofing that he was 
to be a temporal prince to raife them to the moft dif- 

tinguiflied 



( H9 ) 

tinguifhed pre-eminence as the lords of the world, 
they fhould fee the Son of Man fitting on the right 
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 

Such a declaration as this muft have been a very 
fevere and cutting one to them, as it (truck at the 
root of all their deepeft prejudices and their deareft 
hopes and expectations. It was as if he had faid ; 
you have been looking and longing with the ut- 
moft ardour and impatience for a perfon who 
fhould affume the characler of your Meffiah, to raife 
you to the higheft pitch of worldly greatnefs, and to 
render you profperous and happy beyond the ex- 
ample of all former times : you expect all the fen- 
fual gratifications which power or wealth can bellow : 
but thefe expectations will, moft afluredly, be fruf- 
trated ; for though I, who am now your prifoner 
and the object: of your utter contempt and derifion; 
though I am, as one of your own prophets expreflf- 
ly predicted of me, defpifed and rejscled by you, a 
man of forrows and acquainted with grief-, though, 
in a word, you fee in me, none of the character- 
ise marks of the Meffiah, whom you have been fo 
anxioufly expecting, and, on that account, are about 
to put me to a moft ignominious and cruel death, 
as an impoftor, yet you fhall foon fee how much 
you have been miftaken \ you fhall fee the Son of Man, 
the Meffiah, fitting on the right hand of power and 
coming in the clouds of heaven a . 

* This is another of thofc paffagcs which Mr. Mede and 
1 4 others 



( 12° ) 

The effect which this folemn declaration on the 
part of our Lord had upon the minds of the Jewifh 
rulers is, if any thing can be, an unequivocal and 
decifive proof in what fenfe they underltood it ; for, 
as was naturally to be expected from men of their 
ambitious turn of mind, and with their avowed fen- 
timents concerning the nature of the Mejfiah's eh a- 
racier, upon fuch an occafion, their refentment 
was inftantapeous, and their rage againft him was 

others have applied to the kingdom of a thoufand years, or to 
-what is called the millennium 5 but, without entering upon the 
queftion, whether this doctrine is well or ill founded, it may., 
I think, be fafely affirmed, that this paflage cannot have any 
-relation to it ; for the connection itfelf, as well as the general 
tenor of the Gofpel hiftory, appears to me, clearly, to demon- 
flrate, that it has an exclufivc relation to our Lord's controver- 
fy with the Jews, concerning the triie nature of the McJfiaKs 
character. To guard againft its application to any other event, 
the hiftorian fays, one* apn, or aito tov vvv 3 from the prefent time, 
ye JJiall fee the So?i of JSlan coming in the clouds of heaven. 

If then the genuine meaning of this language of our Lord 
be, that by the dejiruclio?i of Jerufakm they mould have full 
proof that he was the true Mefftah, his declaration, in Matthew 
xxiv. that the Jews mould fee the Son of Man coming in the 
clouds of heaven, ivith pozuer and gres.t glory, will be clearly 
afcertained to be of the fame import. Nor can there be any 
room for doubt, that Matt. xvi. 27, 28, relate likewife to the 
def ruction of JerufaUm; though they have, by the Bifliop of 
London, been applied to the day of judgment. This learned 
prelate has given his decided opinion that Matt. xxvi. 64, 
and xxiv. 30, relate to the defirudion of the Jews ; and no 
fiifficient reafon can, I think, be afligned why Matt. xvi. 27, 
3S, fliould not be fo applied. 



raifed 



( 121 ) 

railed to the higheft pitch of fury. Then, fays the 
Evangelifl, ver. 65, the high prieft rent his clothes, 
faying, He hath fpoken blafphemy / What think ye f 
they anfwered, he is guilty of a crime, which by our 
law is deferving of death, as a biafphemer and im- 
poftor, Then did they /pit in his face, and buffetted 
him, and others fmote him with the palms of their 
hands, faying, Prophefy unto us, thou Chrift, thou that 
pretended to be the Chrift, who is he that fmote 
thee? What greater proofs- of rage and indigna- 
tion, of mockery and infult, could they pofTibly 
have difcovered ; or how in a ftronger manner 
have exprefTed the extreme grief which the very 
idea of the difappointment of their worldly views 
produced upon their minds ? He hath fpoken blaf- 
phemy I Ave ay with him, crucify him, crucify him, was 
the univerfal cry. And when afterwards the quef- 
tion was put by Pilate, Whom will ye that I releafe 
unto you, Bar abbas, or Jefus who is called Chrift ? they 
faid, not this man, but Bar abbas. And upon Pilate's 
expostulating with them upon their preferring a 
murderer, and afking them what evil Jefus had done? 
they all faid to him, Let him be crucified! No crime J 
in their eftimation, could equal that which de- 
prived them of profpefts fo dear to their hearts, 
and fo flattering to their pride, and which, in their 
ftead, prefented to their view, nothing but fcenes 
of horror and defolation, mifery and ruin ! No 
wpnder that, in fuch circumfta^ces, they fhould 

have 



( 122 ) 

have purfued him with the mod unrelenting fury, 
and that nothing; could fatiate it but his blood. 

At the accomplilhment of a purpofe fo atrocious 
and bloody, the very heavens mourned. As if 
afhamed of fo foul a deed, the fun withdrew its 
light ; and, as all the three hiftorians agree in re- 
lating, there was darknefs over the whole land from 
the Jixth to the ninth hour, Hhe veil alfo of the temple 
was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom ; and the 
earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves 
were opened, and many bodies of faints which flept 
aroje. 

The impreflion which thefe awful and truly mi- 
raculous events made upon the minds of the fpec- 
tators, is very particularly noticed in the narration 
of St. Luke ; for, he fays, that all the people that 
were colle5led together, nn rv\v Ofw^ai/, at that Jpec- 
tacle, when they Jaw the things which were done, /mote 
their breafts, and returned. And he particularly 
mentions the centurion, the Roman officer, who 
had the charge of feeing the fentence of our Lord's 
crucifixion executed, as exclaiming, when he faw 
what had happened, Certainly this was a righteous 
man-, or, as St. Matthew has it, I'ruly this was the 
Son of God, 

Thefe extraordinary atteftations, recorded by the 
evangelical hiftorians, to the excellence of our 
Lord's character, at the moment when he was ex- 
piring on the crofs as a notorious malefaclor and 

impoftor s 



( m ) 

impoftor, for a {Turning the character of the Mef- 
fiah, will be allowed to have a considerable weight 
in removing the odium of his crucifixion. But 
there was ftill wanting, in order to the complete 
vindication of his character, the divine interpofi- 
tion, to refcue him from the dominion of the 
grave, and to reftore him again to life. This, our 
Lord himfelf had rendered abfolutely and efTen- 
tially necefTary ; for he had repeatedly, and in the 
mod exprefs and unequivocal terms, foretold, not 
only that he mould fuffer many things from the elders^ 
and chief priefts y and fcribes 3 and be killed, but that 
he ftiould be raifed again , on the third day after his 
crucifixion. 

How awfully anxious to the difciples of our 
Lord muft the interval between his crucifixion and 
his refurreclion, have been ? His crucifixion, they 
evidently confidered as the death-blow to all their 
fiopes and expectations of his being their Mejfiah- t 
and, with their ideas of the nature of the Mejjiah's 
character, it could not but be fo. Tneir language, 
in converfation with the fuppoled ftranger who ac- 
companied them to Emmaus, evidently bears the 
ftrongeft marks of defpondence, and of their hav- 
ing fuppofed that they had been following an im- 
poftor. We ir lifted, fa id they, that it had been he 
who jhould have redeemed lfrael. Still fome faint 
glimmering of hope appears - } for they add, and be-- 
ftdes all this, to-day is the third day fince thefe things 
were done. But it was a hope in which fear and 

unbelief 



. ( 1*4 ) 

unbelief evidently predominated; for when the wo* 
men, who had been at the fepulchre, told the apoftles 
that Jefus was rifen, their words Jeemed to them to be 
idle tales. And the hiftorian expreflly fays, they 
believed them not. They feem to have been unwil- 
ling, a fecond time, to have been impofed upon ; 
and nothing but the overpowering evidence of the 
reality of his refurrection, appears to have overcome 
their incredulity. 

Such were the original witneffes of our Lord's 
refurrection, and none, under fuch circum (lances, 
feem lefs likely to have been impofed upon. Yet 
all united, in the face of the whole world, in the 
face of dangers tenfold more formidable than any 
they had yet experienced, in declaring before the 
Jewijh rulers who had crucified him, and in the very 
city where he had been crucified, and that within 
a few days after the event had taken place, that 
that fame Jefus whom they had put to death, was rifen 
from the dead, and that they were all witneffes of the 
fact ; and that by that aftoniming event, God had 
evinced, beyond all contradiction, that he was no 
impoftor, but the true Meffiah, whom they had all 
fo anxioufly expected ! Therefore, let all the houfe of 
Ifr&el know affuredly, that God hath made that fame 
Jefus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Chrifi. 
See Acts ii., 22, 23. 32. 36. Again, when the 
apoftles were miraculoufly delivered from the pri- 
ibn into which they had been thrown, for preaching 
in the name of Jefus, and the high prieft afked them* 

faying^ 



( *%$ 5 

fkying, Bid we not ftraitly command \ that you Jhould 
not teach in this name y and behold you have filed Je- 
rufalem with your doclrine, and intend to bring this 
man's blood upon us; nothing can exceed the bold 
and manly reply of the apoftles: We ought to obey 
God rather than man b . So, again, when the Jewifh 

rulers 

k A (imilar langaage is ufed by Socrates, which, though 
well known to the learned, will probably not be unacceptable 
to readers in general. I lhall prefent it to them as tramlated 
by the ingenious author of a DhTertation upon the Conduct of 
the Jewiih Sanhedrim, together with his remarks upon it. 

st Should you, to the charge exhibited againft me, reply^ 
Socrates, we pay no regard to what Anytus has advanced, we 
acquit you; but upon this exprefs condition, that you arc 
aever again to be employed in this manner, nor to teach any 
more : if you do, you fhall be put to death. Were you, as I 
faid, to offer me pardon upon thefe terms, my anfwer mould 
be, O Athenians, I highly efteem and regard you, but I will 
rather obey God than you : and as long as i live, and my ftrength 
remains, 1 will not ceafe to teach and i»ftru£t fuch of you as 
I fhall have occalion to meet in my ufual way. This office I 
will perform to young and old, to countrymen and ftrangers; 
but, in a particular manner to you, my countrymen, with whom 
I am more nearly connected. For, be afTured, this is the 
command of God ; and I am perfuaded you enjoy not a 
greater privilege in the Mate, than this fervice which I per- 
form for God." 

The learned tranllator upon this paflage obferves, that it 
has te often, and very jultly, been admired as one cf the fineft 
of antiquity." It breathes fentiments truly excellent, a fpirit 
of true heroifm in his noble contempt of death j of patriotifin 
in his affecYion for his countrymen; and of piety in the facred 
regard he mews for God, Now, let the character and iUus-- 

tioa 



( 126 ) 

rulers again commanded them not to /peak at att 5 
nor /peak in the name of Jefus, it feems abfolutely 
impoffible not to admire the noble and intrepid 
firmnefs which they difplayed j Whether it be right 
in the fight of God to hearken to you more than to 
God, judge ye; for we cannot but /peak the things 
which we have feen and heard. In the former in* 
fiance, the apoftle Peter immediately proceeds to 
charge the Jewifh rulers with the murder of their 
Lord, to aflert his refurreclion from the dead, and 
to ftate with precifion what was the great defign 
of the Meftiah's million. Acts v. 30. the God of 
our fathers hath raifed up his Son Jefus, whom ye flezv 
and hanged on a tree : Him hath God exalted to be a 
Prince and a Saviour, not, as you expect, to refcue 
you from the yoke of the Romans, and to raife 
you to great worldly profperity, but to give repent- 
ance to Jfrael, and forgivenefs of fins. And we are his 
witnejfes of thefe things, and Jo is alfo the Holy Spirit^ 
which God hath given to them that obey him. 

tion of the apoftles, at this juncture,, be but'duly attended to, 
and I dare appeal to the impartial world, whether their fpeech 
is not as animated, and their conduct as great and noble. 
This I take notice of, not at all to detract from the honour 
due to Socrates, (it would be bafe fo much as to attempt it), 
but that thofe gentlemen who are accuftomed to run down 
the apoftles as a fet of weak contemptible creatures, may 
confider how far they are deferving of fuch epithets ; or it is 
confiftent with candour to give them, when their conduct is 
fo limilar to that which they fo juftly admire in another. P* 
o, 10. 

When 



( 12 7 ) 

When the Jewifh rulers had heard that, and no 
hopes were held out to them of his being a mighty 
conqueror, to promote the objects of their worldly 
ambition, the evangelical hiftorian relates, that they 
were cut to the heart, and took counfel to Jlay them. 
But they were over- ruled by the fage advice of 
Gamaliel. Refrain, fays he, from thefe men, and let 
them alone ; for, if this counfel, or this work be of men, 
it will come to nought, but if it be of God, ye cannot 
overthrow it, left haply, by purfuing violent mea- 
fures, ye be found to fight againft God: and to him 
they agreed. And, when they had called the apoftles, 
and beaten them, they again commanded that they foould 
not fpeak in the name of Jefus, and let them go. And 
they departed from the prefence of the council, rejoicing 
that they were counted worthy to fo.ffer fhame for his 
name. And, notwithstanding the injunction, accom- 
panied with the (tripes which they had received, they 
ceafed not to teach and to preach Jefus, tqu x^ ov * 
the Meffiah. 

From thefe inftances, to which many more, col- 
lected from the hiftory of the Acts of the Apoftles, 
might be added, it appears unquefiionable that the 
apoftles were fully convinced, not only that Jefus 
was the MeJJiah, but that they were now, for the 
firft time, diverted of their prejudices, and com- 
pletely understood the nature and deftgn of the Mef- 
fiah 's characler and office. They now no longer ex- 
pected him to afiume the characler of a temporal 
prince, which, sill after his refurrection, was the 
7 chief 



C 128 ) 

chief object of their ambition, as appears from, the 
queftion which they put to him, fubfequentc to that 
event. Acts i. 6. Lord wilt thou, at this time, re- 
Jtore the kingdom to Ifrael ? 

This, however, was by no means the cafe with 
refpect to the great body of the Jewijh nation. 
They, on the contrary, continued with unceafing 
anxiety to look for a perfon who fhould refcue 
them from the yoke of the Romans, and raife them 
to the diftinguifhed pre-eminence of being the lords 
cf the world. But, in the courfe of our Lord's mi- 
niftry, he frequently hinted, that the coming of the 
Mejjiah would, with regard to them, have a very 
different hTue. And, towards the clofe of his life, 
he predicted, with unexampled clearnefs and pre- 
cifion, that the coming of the MeJJiab would, to 
them, be in clouds, and as in the days of Noah. The 
Son of Man fit all come in the clouds of heaven, with 
'power and great glory. As the days of Noah were, 
which were days of great temporal calamity, Jo 
Jhall the nature of the coming of the Son of Man be. 
And the perfpicuity of the true nature of his coming, 
as the Meffiah, in oppofition to the manner in which 
the Jewifh nation expected him to come, is thus 
defcribed. As the lightning cometh out of the eaft, and 
Jhinetb even unto the wefts fo Jhall alfo the true na- 
ture of the coming of the Son of Man for perfpicuity 
he. Nor is there any one fubject, throughout the 
whole gofpel hiitory, upon which our Lord expa- 
tiates, fo largely, as on this; none on which he fo 

decidedly 



( ia 9 ) 

decidedly refts the i/Tue of his controverfy with his 
countrymen, as to the true nature of his character. 
So that -fa, language, upon this fobjedr, ia.ports 
nothmg lefs than this, If Jerufalem be not, in this 
gelation, decoyed, then the Lor, hath not Ipken 

The figns of this truly awful and important event 
were pointed out by our Lord with the preateft 
particularity and exaftnefs, for this exprefs pu rpo fe 
that his d.fcipks might -watch for it, to avoid beibj 
involved in the deftrutfion that was approaching 
and t, lat th might be ^ ^ ^ | 

of their followers agamft the infinuations »( their 
adverfanes, who might tauntingly fey, as St . Peter 
and Jofephus inform us, they actually did fay 
Where is the promife of his coming, for M e the £ 
thers fell afleep, all things continue as they were from 
the beginning of the creation. ' 
_ Upon the fuppofition of the truth of the gofod 
hiftory, it is utterly impoffible to imagine the 
apoftles fhould have been inattentive to fheir 7 
vine Mafter's predion of this awful event, and to" 
the figns of its near approach; more efpecially after 
they became acquainted with the true nature of his 
charaaer. But, in adverting to this event, it muft 
be obvious to every one, that the utmoft caution 
and circumfpedion were requifite, left by expref 
fing themfelves too plainly, they might materiahV 
mjure the caufe in which they were engaged and 
enhance the fufferings to which they wire already 

K cxpofed. 



( *30 ) 

expoted. This was a conduct which our Lord had 
himfelf particularly pointed out to them, in his di- 
rection, to be wife as ferpents, and harmkjs as 
doves. 

To anfwer thefe important purpofes, we find the 
apollies, in their epiftles, adopting, as was extremely 
natural for them, as Jews and as pious and good 
men, the language which was in familiar ufc 
in the writings of the prophets, in defcribing the 
near approach of great temporal calamities : fuch as, 
that the Lord is at hand ; the coming of the Lord draw- 
eth nigh-, the day of the Lord is comings and more 
efpecially the phrafe, the coming of Chrift, fo aptly 
pointed out to them in our Lord's own language, 
in defcribing the definition of Jerufakm. 

The following are a few examples of the lan- 
guage of the prophets, in defcribing the near ap- 
proach of temporal calamities. The prophet Ifaiah, 
when fpeaking of the near approach of the defiruclion 
of Babylon, fays, chap. vi. 9, Howl ye, for the day 
of the Lord is at hand. It jhall come as a deftruc- 
tion from the Almighty, Behold, the day of the 
Lord cometh to lay the land defolate. Joel i. 15, 
Alas, for the day, for the day of the Lord is at 
hand, and as a deftrutlion from the Almighty, it pall 
come. Zeph. L 7,, Hold thy peace at the prefence of 
the Lord God-, for the day of the Lord is at 
hand \ for the Lord hath prepared a Jacrifice, he hath 
hid his guefts. Ezek. xxx.. 2, 3, Son of Man, pro- 
phefy and fay, 'Thus faith the Lord God, Howl ye, w<t 

worth 



( W ) 

*worth the day, for the Lord is near, even the day of 
the Lord is near, a cloudy day. And, mod remark- 
able is the expreffion of the prophet Amos, chap, 
v. 1 8, particularly if compared with our Lord's 
defcription, Luke xvii. 22, Woe unto you that defire 
the day of the Lord. T 0 what end is it for yeu to de- 
fire it? The day of the Lord is darknfs, and not 
light. 

With thefe examples in view, let us attend to 
the language of St. Paul, in the vth chapter of his 
firft Epiftle to the TherTalonians, Tourfelves know 
perfectly, that the day of the Lord Jo cometh as 
a thief in the night; for when they, i. e. as I fuppofe 
the apoftle to mean, the unbelieving Jews, Jhall fay. 
Peace and fafety, then fudden deftruclion cometh upon 
them as upon a woman with child, and they Jhall not 
efcape. With what peculiar propriety does the 
apoftle add, in the following verfe, of thofe who 
were acquainted with our Lord's prediction of the 
deftruclion of Jerufalem : Te brethren are not in dark- 
nefs, that that day, the day of the Lord, fhould 
overtake you as a thief! Te are all the children of 
light and of the day, feeing thatj^ know perfectly that 
the day of the Lord fo cometh as a thief in the 
night. We are not of the night, nor of darknefs. And 
it is with equal propriety that he founds upon 
it his fubfequent exhortation, ver. 6, Therefore let us 
not Jleep as do others, but let us watch and be fober. 

1 think it is impoffible not to fee the (Inking 
coincidence and harmony between this language 

K 2 and 



( ) 

and that of our Lord, when he fays, Matt. xxiv. 
38, 39, As in the days that were before the flood, they 
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar- 
riage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 
and knezv not until the flood came and took them all 
away-, Jo Jhall alfo the coming of the Son of 
Man be: Watch therefore, for ye know not what 
hour your Lord doth come. All the commentators 
upon St. Paul's language have noticed this refem- 
blance, and referred to thefe very pafTages. And 
nothing, I think, but a mifconception of the 
meaning of our Lord's prediction, and the unjufti- 
fiable in trod ucl ion of types and double meanings, 
could have thrown a veil over the genuine mean- 
ing of the apoftle in the chapter under confidera- 
tion. It is fo plain, that he who runs may read and 
underftand it. 

I am well aware that the phrafe, the times and 
the feafons, in the firil verfe of this chapter, has been 
applied by many commentators to " the time of 
the duration of the world, and the particular feafon 
at which Chrift fhall come to judge mankind."; 
But there feems to have been no reafon for the ufe 
of an ambiguous phrafe in defcribing the day of 
judgment^ but an obvious one, as has already been 
obferved, if it related to the deftruclion of Jerufa- 
km \ 

The true meaning of this phrafe feems to have 
been very accurately dated by the late Bifhop 
Pearce. For upon the difciples afking our Lord, 

Wilt 



( *33 ) 



Wilt thou, at this rejlore the kingdom to Ifrael? his 
comment is — Wilt thou take the Jews from under 
the Roman yoke, and give to them a king and 
kingdom of their own ? He gives them no direct, 
anfwer to their queftion ; but his words feem to im- 
ply, that when the Holy Ghoft was come upon 
them, they fhould then know the nature of his king- 
dom. And it is remarkable, that when Dr. Benfon 
and Dr. Macknight, have no other object in view, 
than to afcertain the genuine meaning of the phrafe, 
they give it with fufficient accuracy c . 

With refpect to the fecond chapter of the fecond 
Epiftle to the Theffalonians ; it has, I think, been 
univerfally allowed to have an immediate relation to 
the fame fubject. And indeed there are unqueftion- 
able proofs of the fact ; for the coming of Chrifi is 
evidently, upon every fuppofition, fynonymous with 
the coming of the Lord, in the former chapter. In 
that chapter too, he fays, Te have no need that I 
write unto you. In this, he afks them if they did not 
remember, that when he was yet with them (previous 
to his writing his firft Epiftle), he told them of thefe 
things ? 

There are, I think, befides, fome very finking and 
unanfwerable proofs, that the coming of Chrift^ in the 
firft verfe of this chapter, relates, not to the end of 
the world> but to the deftrutlion of Jerufalem. Among 

e See Macknight's Gofpel Hiftory, and Benfon's Hiftory df 
the Firft Planting of the Chriftian Religion, p. 16. 

K 3 thefe, 



< «34 ) 

thefe, the chiefs perhaps, is, the exael correfpon* 
dence of the apoftles language, with that of our 
Lord, in his prediclion of the deftruttkn of Jeruja- 
km j as may be feen by viewing them together. 

Matt. xxiv. 3. 
What Jliall be the fign of 'thy 
coming P 



V. 6. 

See that ye be not troubled. 



2 Theff. ii. 1, 2, 3. 
Noiv ive befeech you concern- 
ing the coming of our Lord 
Jefus Chrifl. 



Mark xiii. 7. 
Be ye' not troubled. 

Luke xxi. 9. 
Be not terrified. 

Matt. xxiv. 4. 
Take heed that no man deceive 
you. 

Mark xiii. 5. 
Take heed left any man deceive 
you. 

Luke xxi. 8. 
Take heed that ys be not de- 
ceived. 

Matt. xxiv. 31. 
And they Jliall gather toge- 
ther his eh St. 



V. 2. 

Be not foon Jliaken in mind §r 
he troubled. 



2 Theff. ii. S. 
Let no man deceive you by any 
means. 



2 Theff. ii. 1. 
Novo concerni?ig our gathering 
together unto him. 



The Greek, both in the Epiftle and Gofpels, is 
as follows : 



Matt. xxiv. 3. 

ft ro o-y^siov fys ays &agov- 



2 Theff. ii. 1. 

Matt 



( '35 ) 



Matt. xxiv. 6, 

Mark xiii. J. 

Luke xxi. 9. 
[Ay xzlorfirffE. 

Matt. xxiv. 4. 

Mark xiii. 5. 

Bteirsts pj tig vpcts •mXavrjcr). 
Luke xxi. 8. 

B/^ETfZTE {JUT) TtKOLvrfirffB. 



Matt. xxiV. 31. 



2 TheiT. ii. 2. 



2 TheflT. ii. 3. 



2 Theff. ii, I, 



Allowing for the different fituations of our Lord 
and his apoftles, and for the different ways which 
different writers will naturally have in fpeaking 
upon the lame fubjedt, thefe coincidences are 
fufficiently Unking to induce an attentive obferver 
to think there is, at lead, a very ftrong prefump- 
tion that the apoftle, in his defcription of the com- 
ing of Chrift, had an immediate and direct refer- 
ence to our Lord's prediction of. the deftrufiion of 
Jerufalem^ and confequently that the reafoning 
which has been adopted in endeavouring to a (cer- 
tain the genuine meaning of the fifth chapter of 
his former epiftle, is ftrongly corroborated by it ; 
for, as has been obferved ? it has been generally 
admitted that both chapters relate to the fame Jubjeul. 

It is not my intention in this work, to enter into a 
critical examination of the whole of this celebrated 

K 4 chapter 5 



( ) 

chapter d ; but it would be doing great injuftice to my 
argumenty not to trace out the leading ideas con- 
tained in it, particularly as they appear to me to 
harmonize, in an uncommon degree, with the ge- 
neral tenor of the gofpel hiftory. When, for in- 
fiance, trie apoftle fays, v. 3, That day — the day of 
Chnft, or the day of the Lord — jhall not come except 
-a ATToracrioc — the apoftacy, Jhall come firft, he feems 
to me, moft decidedly, to allude to the rebellion 
of the Jews againft the Romans, which was the 
grand preparatory Hep to the deftruclion predicted 
by our Lord 5 for, in this prediction, he fays, 
Matt. xxiv. 6, 7, ye Jhall hear of wars and rumours 
of wars ; for nation Jhall rife againjl nation, and king- 
dom againft kingdom which is precifely the original 
meaning of the term Aworxna, apoftacy, made ufe 
of by the apoftle* 

Mr. Mede, Bifhop Newton, Biftiop Hallifax, Dr. 
Benfon, Dr. Macknight, and Mr. Zouch, and, in 
general, all the advocates for the application of 
the contents of this chapter, to the apoftacy of the 
church of Rome, are decidedly of opinion that 
the apoftacy here mentioned was not of a civil, 
but of a religious nature, not a revolt from govern- 
ment, but a defection from the true religion and wor- 
Jhip of God. But though they have endeavoured 

d This has already been done at large in my Triumphs of 
Christianity over Infidelity, from page 191 to 226} and a very 
able writer, in a correfpondence with the author, has very can- 
didly acknowledged he can discern no flaw in the reafoning 
there adopted. 

to 



( M7 ) 

to prove, by an appeal to thofe palTages of fcrip- 
ture, where the term apofacy is made ufe of, that 
this was St. Paul's meaning, yet, I trull I fhall be 
excufed, if I fay that none of them all appear to 
me to have given that critical and minute atten- 
tion to the genuine meaning of the word, as ufed 
by the lacred writers, to warrant an implicit ac- 
quiefcence in their opinion. 

The term ATroratna, apofacy, when considered in 
the abfiract and without relation to any particular 
fubjedr, mod unqueflionably means a departure from 
any thing. And there needs no better evidence 
that this is the genuine meaning of the word, than 
that the facred writers, particularly thofe of the 
New Teftament, always ufe it in this fenfe. Thus 
St. Luke fays, Acts xxi. 21, that St. Paul taught 
Airorouricc, apofacy — but to render the writers mean* 
ing perfectly clear, fome addition was neceiTary, 
and therefore it is added, that it was an apqftacy 

from Mofes, ATcorcG-ix'J $i0ot(rx£is Cf.no pucEcc;. c Ihou 
teachefi an apoftacy from Mofes. St. Paul, in his 
firft epiftle to Timothy, fays, ch. iv. 1, In the lat- 
ter times fome Anzrwoyrai fhall depart) but, to render 
it clear what he meant, he adds, that they foould de- 
part- Ttj? 9ns-f»? from the faith. Once more, the 
writer to the Hebrews, fays, ch. iii. 1 2, Take heed % 
brethren, left there be in any of you an evil heart of un- 
belief si/ tv &7ro$-nvGu in departing-, but, to make him- 
felf fully underftood, he adds, that they were not to 
depart from the living God. 

The term A7rcra<r*«, apofiacy, in the chapter under 
6 con- 



( I3§ ) 

conlideration, has no addition annexed to it, and 
mufl therefore be determined by the fubjecl: to 
which it is related, and that, it cannot be denied, 
is the coming of Chrifi. Whether that coming re- 
lates to the day of judgment, or to the ' ' deftruttion of 
Jerufalem, is the matter in difpute 6 . I have already 
produced no flight evidence, that it is the latter of 
thefe events; and I am perfuaded that that evidence 
will increafe, as we proceed in our examination of 
the fubfequent part of the chapter. 

A careful attention to the fame fources of in- 
formation to which an appeal has hitherto been 
made, will, if I am not very much miftaken, Ihew 
that the .appellations of the man of fin and the Jon 

e It is not unworthy of the reader's notice, that Jofephus, in 
his hiftory of the Jewifh War, which ended in the deftru&ion 
of Jerufalem, conftantly ufes the term Airoovaom, apoftacy, to 
denote the rebellion of the Jetvs againft the Romans. 

With refpect to the fentiments of the early fathers of the 
Chrillian church, I mall not trouble myfelf nor my readers 
with any remarks upon them., farther than to obferve, that Mr. 
Leigh, in his Critica Sacra, in a note upon the word Atfocrcc- 
via., apfacy, fays, " fome interpret it, de defe&ione ab Im- 
perio Romano, as Ambrofe, Hierom, Tertullian, of a revolt 
from the Roman government. Others, and more, interpret it, 
de defe&ione a iide. Chryfoft. QEcum. Theoph. Theodoret 
and Auguft. de Givit. Dei of an apoftacy from the faith. And 
Mr. Hardy, in his note on 2 Then", ii. 3. fays — Atfoaracna & 
fide defectionem generaliter denotat — the word apoftacy, de- 
notes a departure from the faith. But he obferves— Hie de- 
fefctionem Judeorum ab imperio Romano ngnifkare videtur. 
Here it feems to ftgniry, the revolt of the Jews from the Ro- 
man government. 

of 



( 139 ) 

of perdition, were meant of the Jezvijh nation, and 
that in fact, he had in his eye, an exclufive regard 
to them. In the xxiii. of Matthew, our Lord 
defcribes, with great particularity and minutenefs, 
the charafter of the rulers of that nation, charging 
them with crimes of the deepeft die, mo ft pro- 
bably, with a view to prepare the minds of his 
difciples for the awful fate that awaited them ; and 
towards the clofe of this chapter, he has this re- 
markable expreflion, v. 32, .Fill ye up, or rather, 
in the form of a prediction, 7rA^«c-aT£, ye will fill 
up the meafure of your fathers, i e. as the context 
feems plainly to imply, of the iniquities of your fa- 
thers. And then, as our Lord tells them, their 
houfe would be left unto them defolate. 

It is remarkable that the apoftle Paul, in his ifl: 
Ep. ch. ii. 15, 16, fays, the Jews, by their flagitious 
conduct in killing the Lord Jefus and their own pro- 
phets, and their forbidding them to fpeak to the Gen- 
tiles that they might be faved, were proceeding, sij ro 
ocvx-n-topwrat, completely to fill up the me afure of their ini- 
quities, as a veffel or meafure is filled up, till it 
can hold no more; and that, in confequence of 
their extreme wickedness, wrath was coming 
upon them^ u; tsAcs, to the uttermoft, or to their 
utter extinction, as a nation. 

The learned Dr. Beattie, fpeaking of the ex- 
treme flagitioufnefs of the character of the Jews, 
•as a nation, fays, " The virtue of the Roman 
people was not, in thofe days, exemplary. Yet 

when 



( I 4° ) 

when we compare their manners, as they oc- 
cafionally appear in the facred hiftory, with thofe 
of the Jews, how are we (truck with the differ- 
ence! The Romans are indeed Pagans; but they 
are not deftitute of that good nature and love of 
juftice which one expects to find in a civilized na- 
tion. The Jews are feldom feen in any other cha- 
racter than that of bloody barbarians. Pontius Pilate 
avowed our Lord's innocence, and (hewed an in- 
clination to fave his life ; Gailio, proconful of 
Achaia, acted with good fenfe and moderation 
when Paul was brought before him ; Claudius Ly- 
fias, Feftus, and Felix, in their treatment of the 
fame apoftle, were not unmercifully fevere ; and 
the centurion,, whofe prifoner he was, in his voyage 
to Italy, was very much attached to him. But the 
Jewiih priefts, fcribes, and elders, confpired to 
murder our Saviour without a trial ; fuborned per- 
fons to bear falfe witnefs againft him; and the 
fame afTembly, or their fucceffors in office, con- 
nived at a icheme, and of courfe concurred in it, 
for the afTarTiriation of Paul. Jn a word, it appears 
that the greater part of what we call the better fort 
of the Jews of that age, when they had refolved 
upon any meafure, would not hefitate to employ 
any means, however unjuft, cruel, or fhameful, in 
the accomplishment of it f . 

Nor doth the extreme depravity of the Jews, as 

f Ses Beatties Evidences, p. 140, &c. vol. i. 

a nation. 



( Hi ) 

a nation, appear from the Chriftian records only $ 
for Jofephus, who had ample means of knowing 
them well, in the fulled manner confirms what is 
there faid of them. " To give a particular ac- 
count of all their iniquities were endlefs. Thus 
much, in general, it may fufEce to fay, that there 
never was a city which fuffered fuch miferies, nor 
a race of men, from the beginning of the world, 
which fo abounded in wickednefs. I verily be- 
lieve, that if the Romans had delayed to deftroy 
thefe wicked wretches, the city would either have 
been fwallowed up by the earth, or overwhelmed 
by the water, or (truck with fire from heaven, as 
another Sodom ; for it produced a far more im- 
pious generation than thofe who fuffered fuch pu- 
nifhments." 

The apoflle Paul, who certainly was no flranger 
to the character of the Jews, as a nation, and who 
appears, from what he has faid of them in his for- 
mer epiille, ch. ii. 15, 16, to have been deeply 
imprefTed with a fenfe of their unparalled atroci- 
ties, has perfonified them, and, without particularly 
mentioning them by name, has reprefented them 
as a man of Jin — as one whofe whole compofition 
was fin and nothing elfe. And it has this lingular 
advantage of conveying, in a fingle fentence, all 
that could have been faid in the mod m after! 7 
defcription. And as fin and punifhment are very 
naturally connected together, efpecially when ar- 
rived at fuch an enormous height^ the apoflle 

carries 



( 142 ) 



carries on the perfonification, under the relative 
idea of a Jon of 'perdition — of one devoted to de- 
ftruction and the natural offspring of fuch a parent. 

But how, it will be faid, is the apoftle's fubfe- 
quent language to be applied to the Jews as a 
nation ? What evidence is there, from the hiftory 
of thole times, either facred or prophane, that this 
man of Jin, this Jon of perdition, exalted himfelf 
above all that is called God, or that is worjhipped ; Jo 
that be, as a God,Jat in the temple of God, fhewing him- 
jelf that he was God? 

It will be neceffary, in anfwer to thefe queftioas, 
to afcertain what is the precife meaning of the for- 
mer part of this defcription. And I ihall not be 
fulpefied of being too partial to my own opinion 
if I flate thofe of Dr. Benfon and Bifhop Hallifax, 
the profefTed advocates of its application to the 
church of Rome. 

The former fays, " Princes and magiftrates are ? 
in fcripture, fometimes called Gods. See Pfalm 
Ixxii. i. 6. 7. exxxix. i, &c. And" he farther fays, 
€i it is well-known, that in the apoftle's days £e£ar©* 
was the Greek name, or tide of the Roman em- 
peror. See Acts xxv. 21. 25. If therefore we 
underftand TUGac-pa, of the imperial dignity, then 
the apoftle rifes in his difcourfe and proprrefies 
that the man of fin would exalt himfelf, not only 
above every one that is called a God, or tempo- 
ral potentate, but even above the majefty and dig- 
nity of *Cssfar, the Roman emperor himfelf, the 

higheft 



C 143 ) 

higheft of earthly gods. Accordingly it is in the 
lingular number <r£&occrp<x, and not aQourpciTOi. The 
apoftle has not fpoken out fo plainly as to fay 
SfSaro? ; but, as he hath connected «n?£acr^a with 
every one that is called a god, he hath directed us 
how to underftand him, and fpoken as plainly as it 
was then proper for him to do." 

Biftiop Hallifax, in his fermon on the Man of 
Sin, p. 143, fays, .that " by oppojng and exalting 
himjelf above all that is called a God> or that is wor- 
fhipped, may be only meant, that the man of fin 
(hould exercife a fuper-eminent jurifdiction over 
the kings and princes of this world/' 

In the early part of this work, it was ftiewn, that 
it was a peculiar and diftinguifhing feature in the 
national characler of the Jews, that in looking for 
the coming of their Meffiah, they one and all ex- 
pected him to appear as a temporal prince, to raife 
them as a nation to universal empire. Their ex- 
pectation that their Meffiah would conduct thern to 
this univerjal empire, appears to me therefore to be 
what the apoftle terms, the man of fin exalting himjelf 
above all that is called a God, or that is worjhipped, 
above the imperial majefty and dignity of Caefar 
himfelf, the higheft of earthly gods. To obtain 
this fancied empire, they rejected our Lord, re- 
belled againft the Romans, and lent a wiHing ear 
to any one who afforded them the mod diftant 
profpeft of fuccefs. 

To this interpretation, I am aware, it may be 
objected, that though the Jews grafped at this uni- 
verjal 



( m ) 

verfal empire, they never did attain to it, and that 
therefore they could not have been the objects in- 
tended by St, Paul. But to this it may, I think, 
very fairly be replied, that the apoftle's language 
does not amount to a declaration that the man of 
fin had actually attained to that univerfal empire, 
but was only endeavouring to obtain it. The 'exact; 
literal (cnfe of the original O avjiki^mq xxi itofycti* 
gopwo; is, who is oppofing and exalting himfeif; which 
evidently implies, that he had not, in reality, ac- 
complished his ambitious purpofe. And, it is not 
a little remarkable, that that able fcholar and judi- 
cious divine, Dr. Jortin, when referring to this 
very palTage, fays, that verbs active fometimes 
fignify a defign and endeavour to perform a thing, 
whether accomplished or not g . 

That the other part of the apoflle's language— 
the fitting in the temple of God and fhewing himfeif as 
a God, is defcriptive of an ecclefiaftical tyranny \ is 
unqueMionable ; and that the Jews, as a nation, came 
under this defcription is, I think, equally fo. While 
our Lord was upon earth, he told them to their 
faces, that they jhut up the kingdom of heaven again fi 
men, and that they would neither go in themf elves nor 
Juffer others, who were entering, to go in. It was the 
fame tyrannical fpirit which led them with fuch 
relentlefs fury to perfecute our Lord himfeif, and 
at length to accomplilh their diabolical and inhu- 
man purpofe of putting him to a moll cruel and 

s See Dr. Jortin on the Chriftian Religion, p. 185. 2d Edit. 

.. ignominious 



( 145 ) 

Ignominious death, after having fubjected him to 
the moft wanton and barbarous infults and the 
moft degrading and afEidting contumely and re- 
proach that ever difgraced a court of judicature. 

With refpecl to their treatment of his difclples, 
we are told., that after his removal they continued 
their perfecutions with a fimilar fury, beating fome 
xind killing fome, hunting them about from aty 
to city, and -commanding them not to /peak at all nor 
teach in the name .of J ejus. And the whole hiftory 
of the Acts of the Apoftles is an irrefragable proof 
that this characteriftic feature of the man of fin, 
fitting in the temple of God and Jkewing him/elf as a 
God, belonged to none, with more propriety, than 
to the JewiJIo nation ; particularly as their ecclefiafti- 
cal tyranny was literally carried on, in the very 
temple of God I But I cannot fay fo much to the pur- 
pofe or fo much to my own and the reader's fatis- 
faftion upon this fuhjedt, as has been already faid by 
the learned Dr. Whitby. « When," fays he, « the 
apoftles began to preach the word of life, the high 
prieft, the captain of the temple, and the fadducees, 
A6ts iv. i, and the whole order of the priefthood, 
v. 6, ftyled to <rvvetyw, the fanhedrim, v. 15, com- 
manded them not to fpeak nor teach in the name of 
Jefus, v. 1 8 ; on which account thefe rulers are faid 
to be aflembled againft the Lord and againft his 
Chrijly v. 26. And the anfwer of the apoftles to 
them is, that God was rather to be obeyed than man. 
After this the high prieft and, all his affociates place 

L the 



( H6 ) 



the apoflles ev ru c-u^iw, in the Janhedrim, Acts, 
v. i 7, 27, calling them to an account for difobey- 
ing their commands; and having received this an- 
fwer from the apoftles, that God muft be obeyed ra- 
ther than man, they beat them in the Jmhedrim, and 
again command them not to [peak in the name of Jejus, 
ver. 40, 41. Soon after we find Stephen brought 
before the fcribes and elders si? ro a-wtfyov, into the 
Janhedrim, chap, vi, 12, and the high prieft, ch. vii. 
j, and they who fat ev too <rvvztyco 3 in the Janhedrim, 
having examined him, and the witnefles againffc 
him, they Jioned Stephen, v. 59 - 3 which death could 
only be in Aided on him by the Janhedrim. After 
this, Saul receives letters from the high prieft, ch. 
ix. i, and from all the elders, ch, xxii. 5, to bind 
all Chriftians he could find in any of their fyna- 
gogues and bring them to Jerufalem, Acts ix. 2. 14. 
Yea, in the fecond, or as Bifliop Pearfon faith, in 
the fourth year of Nero, the high prieft, a<xt oXov ro 
(Twefyov, and the zvhole janhedrim meet, Acts xxii. 30, 
and Paul is brought before them, ch. xxiii. i c 
Yea, when the war was begun, affairs feem ftill to 
be ordered by the high prieft and fanhedrirrij 
for it was after the flight of Ceftius Gallus from 
Jerufalem that Jofephus was made governor of Ga- 
lilee, and thence he writes too cwe^ica roov hpvcroXvyATM 
to the Janhedrim of Jerufalem for inftruction." 

This learned writer further obferves, that only 
the Jewifh fanhedrim, their prieft*, high priefts, 
and doctors, or expounders of the law, fat in the 

temple 



( H7 ) 



temple of God, then properly fo called ; and there 
the high prieft and the fanhedrim took upon them 
the power of judging in capital caufes. Thus 
they ftoned Stephen : thus alfo they ftoned James 
the brother of our Lord and others with him; 
and St. Paul perfecuted the Chriftians even to 
death by their authority, Ads xxii. 4, 5, and thus 
they fat in the temple of God. h . 

St. 

h Dr. Benfon was too well acquainted with the gofpel hif- 
tory, not to perceive that this part of St. Paul's defcription 
was ftriftly applicable to the Jews, and accordingly he readily 
allows that the Scribes and Pharifees actually did arrogate to 
themfelves a divine authority, and therefore might be faid to 
Jit in the temple of God. But, he fays, the apoftle could not 
foretel that as a future event. They did fo already, and for 
fome time they had done fo. And he mentions Dr. Whitby 
as alledging that the apoftle does not foretel what would be, 
but fpeaks of what was already, as to that particular, the 
man of fin's fitting in the temple of God. But, fays Dr. Ben- 
fon, the feries of the prophecy will not bear that interpreta- 
tion 5 for though he fometimes fpeaks in the frefe?zt ) be is 
all along to be underftood in the future ienfe, as we find the 
apoftles and prophets often ufing the prefent for the future in 
their predictions. 

I am not inclined to controvert the truth of the obfervation, 
that the prefent is often ufed for tJie future in the language 
of prophecy, but this., I think, is not an in fiance of the 
kind. On the contrary, the apoftle appears to me to have 
diftinguithed with great accuracy and precifion, what was 3 et 
future, from what had already taken place. Of the apoftaey 
which was to precede the coming of Chrifl, ijemoft unqueftion- 
ably fpeaks as being yet future. Of the avo^o; — the laivlefs 

L 2 



( 148 ) 

St. Paul's fubfequent defcription, that the Lord 
jhould deftroy this man of fin, &c. with the Jpirit or 
breach of bk mouth, if tne phrafe the coming of the 
Lord be admitted to be a proper language to 
point oul the near approach of a great temporal ca- 
lamity, is of eafy folutioa. And the phrafe, the 
brigbinefs of his com 'ng, appears to have a lingu- 
lar propriety in it, when it is compared with our 
Lord's language in the xxivth of Matthew, v. 27. 
For as the lightning cometh cut of the eaft^ and floineth 
even unto the weft > Jo J hall alfo n ttocogvcio., the coming of 
the Son of Man be. s the deftruclion of Jerusalem 
was tne doling evidence of the controversy be- 
tween our Lord and the Jews concerning the true 
nature of the Mejjiafrs charatler, the phrafe, the 
brightnefs of his coming, feems peculiarly adapted to 
exprefs the ultimate ifiue of that controverfy! The 
Jews would not admit any one to be the true Mef- 
fiah who did not profefs to raife them to great tem- 
poral profperity. Our Lord told them, as the laft 
and mod decifive proof, that they had totally mif- 

or difobedient one, he fpeaks as yet to be revealed ; but, as 
has already been obferved, he fpeaks of the man of fin as 
then actually oppofing and exalting himfelf above all that is 
called a God, or that is worshipped, and as fitting in the 
temple of God; for the verbs, in the original, as well as 
in the translation, are all in the prefer t tenfe. It feems there- 
fore, in this in fiance, to be an unwarrantable affertion, that the 
apoftleis all along to be underftood in the future tenfe, and an 
unjuftlnable liberty taken with his language. 

taken 



( H9 ) 

taken the true nature of the MeJJiaFs. character > that 
Jerufalem fliould, in that generation, be deftroyed, 
and therefore the apoftle very properly fays, that 
event would be a bright and fplendid evidence of 
their erroneous ide^s upon the fubject. 

The coming of the falfe MefTiahs, after the work- 
ing of Sat an y with all power y and figns > and lying 
wonder s> and with all deceivablenefs of unrighteoufnefs 1 
in them that peri/h, in the 9th and xoth verfes, can- 
not, I think, but bring to the reader's recollection, 
our Lord's language, when defcribing the figns of 
the approaching deftruction of Jerufalem, It is, 
indeed, fo (Inking, that all the commentators have 
taken notice of its and Mr. Kett, in particular, 
having quoted our Lord's words, cc There /hall arife 
falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets y and Jhall jhew great 
figns and wonders infomuch that> if it were pofjible^ 
they Jhall deceive the very eletl" fays, thefe words 
clearly relate, not only to the prognoftics, but to 
circumftances which happened during the fiege." 
And in his note on our Lord's language, he fays> 
<c Jofephus makes ufe of the exact words, figns 
and wonder s } (r^ua, xai Tspara, when Ipeaking of the 
falfe prophets foretold by our Saviour. 1 " 

Such are the accumulated evidences that this 
chapter relates, eulufively, to our Lord's predic- 
tion of the dejlruclion of Jerufalem ; and it appears 

1 See Kett's Hiftory, the Interpreter of Prophecy, vol, i. 
p. 230-1. 3d Edit. 

L 3 to 



( Ho ) 

to me to conftitute a mod admirable proof, not- 
only of the harmony that fubfifts between St. Paul's 
language and that of the gofpel hiftory, but of the 
general authenticity of the whole. 

I cannot but add, that it appears to me that 
the peculiar intereft which the Theftalonians are 
reprefented to have had in the matter, and the 
earneftnefs with which he prefles it upon them, 
give a confiderable weight to thefe evidences. 
Now we beseech you concerning the coming of our 
Lord J ejus Chrtfl. Remember ye not that I told you of 
thefe things ? Stand faft and hold the traditions which 
ye have been taught. 

That in the moment of pafiion and the warmth 
of controverfy, naturally arifing from the refor- 
mation from the errors of popery, this chapter 
fhould have been applied to the church of Rome, 
can create no furprife ; for ecclefiaftical tyranny, 
er indeed any tyranny, when fufFered to grow to any 
great extent, is extremely fimilar. But that men 
of great learning and abilities — men who have de- 
dicated a large portion of their time to the ftudy 
of this fubje6t, in the calm retreats of their clofets, 
and in unclouded feafons of profperity, fhould have 
fo applied it, is fcarcely to be accounted for, but 
from their not having attended to the gcfpel hiftory 
as an hiftory of the controverfy between our Lord 
and the Jews concerning the true nature of the MeJ~ 
CiaFs character. 

With refpeft to the antichrift of St. John, it 

appears 



( '5i ) 

appears to me, to be equally improper to apply it 
to the apoftacy of the church of Rome. In the 
controverfy among the learned, concerning the 
time when St. John's epiftles were written, they 
feem to ine very properly to reft the evidence of 
its being written before the deftrutlion of Jerufalem, 
upon the language which he has adopted concern- 
ing antichrift. Mr, Pyle, in his preface to this 
epiftle, fays — <c his mentioning the loft hour, i. e. 
Chriftianity aboliming the Jewifh difpenfation, 
along with the antichrift s and falfe prophets that our 
Saviour foretold would be the forerunners of the 
deftruction of that nation, feem mod ftrongly to 
intimate the time of writing this epiftle to have 
been before the deftrutlion of Jerufalem. 

Archbiihop Newcome has obferved, that Gro- 
tius's note upon i John ii. i3, is well worth con- 
fidering. Ultima hora, i. e. ultimum tempus^ ubi 
ad Judsos fermo eft, Ggnificat tempus proximum 
excidio urbis ac templi et reipublicas Judasorum.'* 
And the archbifhop, with great propriety and good 
fenfe, adds, " and the words, whereby we know that 
it is the loft time, have much force, if we fuppofe 
that they refer to our Lord's prophecies, viz. of the 
deftruclion of Jerufalem. 1 " 

To thefe teftimonies I beg leave to add that of 
the prefent Bilhop of Lincoln. Speaking of the 
date of this epiftle, he fays — " fome have fuppofed 



1 Sec Archbifhop Newcome's Obfervations, p. 1Q2, 

L 4 that 



( I 5 2 ) 

that it was written before and others after the de- 
ftruction of Jerufalem. In the following pafTage, 
// is the I aft time, and as we have heard that anti- 
chrift /hall come, even now there are many antichrifts,. 
whereby we know it is the laft time, the apoftle 
feems to allude to the approaching.diffolution of the 
Jewifli (late, and to (Thrift's predictions, concerning; 
the faife teachers who were to appear before the 
deftruction of Jerufalem." 

BiOiop Hurd fays, : "It is eafy to give a juft ex> 
pofition of the text, Little children, it is the laft time, 
or hour ; that is, the derTrudtion of Jerufalem is at 
hand, as indeed it followed very foon after the date 
of this epiftle." Again, he fays y that " the appear- 
ance of falfe Chrifts and falfe prophets (of which 
there were many, according to our Lord's predic- 
tion, in St. John's time) indicated the arrival of 
that hour that was to be fatal to the Jewifh ftate." 
The learned bifhop adds, but, as appears to me, 
without any authority from St. John, that "they were 
at the fame time, the types and forerunners of & 
Hill more dreadful power, which Ihould be revealed 
in the latter times, in a future period, when that 
calamity was paft. k " 

As the learned prelate' has profefTed, exprefsly, 
to examine the prophecies by the light of fober 
criticifrn and authentic hiilory, becaufe he fays 
(i it is no new or difficult thing to rnifreprefent faffs, 



k See Kurd on the Prophecies vol. ih p. Q. 5th ediu 

6 and 



( ?53 ) 

snd to mi (interpret Jcripture ; to pervert, in mort y 
thefe two inftruments of truth to any ends, which 
prejudice hath in view," p. 4, 5, he fhould himfelf 
have been particularly cautious of making afTer- 
tions without proof and (till more fo, not to have 
deviated from his own accurate defcription of the 
apoftle' s genuine meaning. But, alas, how widely 
does he ftray from it? And how little ground is 
there for his aflertion, that fuch a power fhould 
arfe in the Chriftian church or that St. John ap- 
peals to a tradition to that purpofe which was then 
current among the difciples ? 1 The apoftle does, 
indeed fay, that* thofe to whom he wrote had 
heard that antichrifi fhould come;, but this tra- 
dition appears evidently to relate to our Lord's 
prediction of the coming of falfe Chrifts, and the 
apoftle lays, that there then were many antichrifts % 
whereby they knew that it mas the laft time. But not 
one word doe* he fay about the riling of any 
power in the Chriftian church, in a future period^ 
when that calamity was pad: nor does he give the 
fUgr.teft hint that they were the types and forerun 
ners of fuch a power, which fhould be fully revealed 
in the latter times, nor is the hated name of anti- 
chrift applied by the apoftle, by way of antici- 
pation to the falfe prophets of that time, as pof- 
felling much of his character and acting with his 
fpirit. All this appears to me to be totally with.- 

1 Ibid. p. 9 

out 



( 154 ) 



out foundation in St. John's ep idles. And yet by 
much the greater part of this learned prelate's cele- 
brated lectures, is built entirely upon this foun- 
dation. 

The learned Dr. Benfon, fpeakingupon this fub- 
ject, fays, " that the apoftle John, in ufing this term 
antichrift, had no reference to the church of Rome. 
1 am (he fays) well perfuaded that the church of 
Rome, and the Pope, as the head thereof, is an 
enemy to Chrid, and, as fuch, prophefied of, 2 
ThelT. ii. 1, where he is defcribed as the man of 
Jin, and he whofe coming is after the working of 
Satan ; and by this apodle, Rev. xvii. in charac- 
ters no lefs evident: though I cannot find that, 
in fcripture, he is any where exprefsly called by the 
name of anthhrift and in this place, (ch. ii. 22,) 
St. John does not feem to have been prophefying 
of that corrupt church but defcribing the falje 
teachers who were then fprung up in the church." 1 " 

Mr. Faber 3 fpeaking of Mr. Whitaker, fays, 
" he appears to me to have exceeded his commif- 
fion in branding the papacy with the title of anti- 
chrid. Many indeed, and wonderfully explicit are 
the prophecies which defcribe the detedable cru- 
elties and unholy fuperditions of that great apof- 
tacy ; which teach us the precife duration of its per- 
fecuting tyranny, which foretel its union with re- 
bellious infidelity, which point out both the place and 
manner of its deftruction. But I have not yet been 



See Ben foil in loc 



able 



( '55 ) 

able to difcover upon what fcriptural grounds the 
name of antkhrift hath been fo generally applied to 
it. St.John is the only infpired writer who lifes the 
term, and nothing that he fays, relative to it, af- 
fords us any warrant for conferring it upon the 
papacy. He is antkhrift that denieth the Father and 
the Son. The church of Rome never denied either 
the Father or the Son ; therefore the church of 
Rome cannot be the antichrift intended by St.. John. 
As for the identity of the little horn cf the Roman 
bead, it feems to me to have been rather taken 
for granted than proved."" 

But let us attend to what St. John has himfelt 
faid upon the fubjecl, and it wrll, I think, appear, 
that the apoftle's language, when fpeaking of anti- 
chrift, in ch. ii. i 8, has a particular reference to 
the great controverfy between our Lord and the 
Jews, concerning his being the Meffiah. Thus, 
v. 22, he fays — Who is a liar, but he that denieth 
that Jefus is O xP iro $> t ^ oe thrift — or the Meffiah f 
He is O AvTi^piro^ , the antkhrift, zvho denieth the Fa- 
ther and the Son j for, adds the apoftle in the follow- 
ing verfe — Whoever denieth the Son, the fame halh 
not the Father founded upon the principle which 
our Lord himfelf had laid down, Matt. x. 40. He 
that receiveth you, receiveth me. Let that, therefore, 
concludes the apoftle, abide in you, which ye have 
heard from the beginning, concerning the MeiTiah. 
And, in the 26th verfe, he ufes a language which 

n See Faber on the Prophecies, 

hM 



( 156 ) 

has fo ftriking a refemblance to that of our Lord, 
that it can hardly be doubted, that it had a parti- 
cular reference to it. Thefe things have I written 
unto you, concerning them that would feduseyou, fays 
St. John. Falfe Chrifts and falje prophets, fays the 
Evangelift, /W/ri/"^, to/educe, if it were poffible, the 
very elecl. And, to fhew what was the objed of 
thofe who were endeavouring to feduce them, the 
apoftle, in the 28th verfe, fays, and now little 
children abide in him, i. e. in Chrift, in oppofition 
to the an rich rift, or the many antichrifts, mentioned 
in the 1 8 th verfe, orccv (pxvegcoQn — not, as in our 
translation, when he /ball appear ; but when he /hall 
be fully manifefted as fuch, we may have confidence in 
him, and not be afhamed before him at his coming. 

In the ivth chapter, the apoftle again refumes the 
fame fubject, andexprefTeshimfelfinfuch aparticular 
and unequivocal manner as to render it impofTible 
for any one who gives attention to the gofpels as 
hiftories of the controverfy concerning the true na- 
ture of our Lord's character, to mifunderftand him. 
Ver. i, Beloved, believe not every fpirit, or every 
perfon, but try the fpirits whether they are of God ; 
becaufe, as he had faid before, in ch. ii, 18, many 
falfe prophets are gone out into the world. But how 
was this trial to be made ? Why, fays the apoftle, 
v. 2, sv towtw ytvwcrxfTf, by this ye know, or may 
know, the fpirit of God; or rather, as the argument 
feems to require, the fpirit which is of God : every 
.fpirit, or perfon, which ccrfeffeth that Jefus Chrift is 

come 



( '57 ) 

come in the flefh, is of God \ and every Jpirit that con- 
fejfeth not that Jejus Chrift is come in the flefh, is not 
of God, The apoftle then adds, in the clofeft con- 
neflion with thefe declarations, that they had al- 
ready been apprized, by what rule they were to 
be guided in this trial of the fpirits. V. 3, And 
this is that fpirit of antichrift whereof ye have heard 
that it fhould come, and even mow already is in the 
world agreeably to his declaration, ch. ii. 18, that 
they had heard that Antichrift fhould come, and that even 
then there were many Antichrift s, whereby they knew 
that it was the laft time. Is it pofllble not to per- 
ceive, that the whole of this language, again and again 
repeated, has an immediate and direct reference to 
the controversy concerning the coming of the Meffiah , 
and particularly to our Lord's predictions of the 
coming of falje Chrift s and falfe prophets, who would, 
if it were poffible, deceive the very elecl, and induce 
them to follow thofe who ihould afTume that cha- 
racter ? And does not this language, at the fame 
time furnifh the fulled proof of the extreme pro- 
priety of confidering the gofpel hiftory as an hiftory 
of the controverfy concerning the true nature of the 
Mefliah's character ? 

But the apoftle has furnifhed another, and, as ap- 
pears to me, an unanfwerable proof of his genuine 
meaning, in his cautions which he fo particularly 
connects with his account of the coming of antichrift, 
and of many antichrifts. Love not the world, neither 
the things in the world. If any one love the zvorld, 

the 



( «58 ) 

the love of the Father is not in him - 3 for all that is in 
the worlds the luft of the ftejb, and the luft of the eyes, 
and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of 
the world. And the world pajfeth a way, and the luft 
thereof, but he that doth the will of God abide th for 
ever. In the ivth chapter, the apoftle fays, Te are 
of God, little children, and have overcome, or triumphed 
over them, viz. the falfe prophets, mentioned in 
the fir ft verfe; you have feen through and got the 
better of their artifices $ becaufe greater is he that is 
In you, than he that is in the world. Hhey are of the 
;ivorld, and the world, for that very reafon, heareth 
them. They looked for a Meffiah who fhould be ✓ 
a temporal prince, to raife them to the nioft diftin- 
guifhed pre-eminence among the nations; and they 
who fpoke of the world, in this fafcinating and al- 
luring point of view, were liftened to with the 
greateft avidity. They favoured not, as our Lord had 
formerly told his difciples, the things of God, or fpi- 
ritual things, hut thofe that were of men, or tempo- 
ral things. In a word, this language of St. John, 
appears to have fo evident, and fo diftinct an allu- 
fion to the worldly views, which were then generally 
entertained concerning the nature of the MeJJiaFs 
character, that I do not fee how, upon the fuppofi- 
tion that the Epiftles are connected with the Gof- 
pels, it is to be underftood in any other fenfe. 

I am well aware that fome learned men are of the 
opinion, that St. John fpake of the Cerinthians, or 
of the errors of the Gnoftics, and of the Docetae; 

but 



( 159 ) 

but I fee no reafon for entertaining fuch an opinion. 
It appears to me infinitely more natural, to fuppofe 
that his language has an exclufive reference to our 
Lord's predictions. .And what he fays, in the vth 
chapter, is conceived in a ftyk that feems abfolutely 
to preclude all doubt, that he had more immedi- 
ately in view the controverfy between our Lord 
and the Jews, whether he was O pQ>»ro?, the Chrif, 
or the Meffiah. Ver. i, Whojoever belreveth that 
Jefus is o xpircs, the Chrifl, or the Meffiah, is born 
of God. And, in the 4th verfe he fays, moft evi- 
dently, in allufion to the worldly views which the 
Jews had of the nature of the Meffiah' s character. 
Whofoever is born of God, by believing that Jefus 
is the Meffiah, overcometb the wvrtd: and this is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, 
or our belief that Jefus is O %p<ro?, the Chrifl, or 
the Meffiah. It muft alfo be obferved, that it is 
in this connection that the apoflle afks, ver. 5, Who 
is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth 
that Jefus is O u»o? tou Gfou, the Son of God? And, at 
the ciofe of the chapter, he makes this remarkable 
declaration, ver. 20, We know that the Son of God, 
the Meffiah, is come, and hath given us an underftand- 
ing, that we may know him that is true, from him 
who is falfe, or who falfely aftumes the character of 
the Son of God : and we are in him that is true 9 
even in : his Son Jefus Chrift ! What a peculiar pro- 
priety and force is there in all this language, if it 
has a reference to that of our Lord ! And how is 

it 



C 160 ) 

it poiTible to view it in any other light than as poi- 
fefling every internal character of credibility, and, 
what is more to the purpofe, as harmonizing moll: 
exactly with the gofpel hiftory ? In one word, no* 
thing could have been more natural than for the 
apoftles to have adopted this language, while the 
appearance of impoftors affjming the character of 
the MeJJiah) feemed to have rendered it fo particu- 
larly neceffary ; for, as has already been obferved, 
till that controveify was finally clofed by the de- 
f.nitlion of Jenifalem, he could not with any pro- 
priety have made ufe of any other language. And, 
to fuppofe that this epiftle was written after the dt- 
Jiruffion of Jerufalem, is, I had aimoft faid, to be 
blind to the ftrongeft evidence which was ever pre- 
fented to the human mind. 

As there are fome pallages in the two Epiftles of 
St. Peter which appear to me to have a relation to 
the definition of JarUfaiem, though they generally 
have been differently underftood, I fhali prefent 
my readers with the evidence of their genuine 
meaning. 

The fir ft epiftle of St. Peter has been fuppofed, 
and as appears to me, very properly, to have been 
addreffed toChriftian converts from among the Gen- 
tiles y for, I do not fee how different parts of this epif- 
tle, and particularly of the two firft chapters, can be 
underftood without having an exclufive -relation to 
them. Thus, they are ftyled de& y according to the 
foreknowledge bf God, and they are exhorted, not to 

fafhbn 



( i6x ) 

f&ftnon themfelves according to their former lufts, in 
their ignorance, that is, in the Mate of heathen 
darknefs, in which they had been involved, prior 
to their converfion to Chriftianity. So again, it is 
faid, ftill more decifively, that nors, formerly, they 
were not a people, but that w 3 now, they were the 
people of God that they had not obtained mercy, but 
that now, they had obtained mercy. And the de- 
scription given of them in the i.vth chapter, v. 3, 
will hardly be allowed to be applicable to any other 
people than to the heathen. The time paft of our life 
may fuff.ee to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, 
when we walked in lafcivictifnefs, lufts, excefs of wine, 
revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries ; 
which lad characl:erflic was peculiar to heathens. 

But there cannot, perhaps, be a better proof 
that this epifile was written to Gentile converts, than 
the warm and affectionate congratulations with 
which St. Peter introduces his epifcle, and his 
animated defcription of the ineftimable value of 
the bleiTings which had already been conferred 
upon them; which, as addrefled to Gentiles, 
who knew not God, had not only a peculiar force 
and propriety in them, but are, as I conceive, a: 
the fame time, linking proofs of the genuine au- 
thenticity of the epifrle. V. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, BkfTed 
be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, 
who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten 
v.s again to a lively hope, or rather, to a hope of 
life, by the refurreSlibn of Jefus Chrift from the dead, 
M to 



( l62 ) 



to an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fadeth not awjy, referved in heaven, or, as it is in 
the original, *v ovpavoi;, in the heavens for you, who 
are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto a 
falvation o-wmpiav, ready to be revealed in the loft 
time, Ev u In the profpecl of [ which, ye greatly re- 
jdce, though, now, for a Jhort time, if need be, or 
feeing, from the circurnftances of the times, that 
it is neceflary, ye are in heavmefs through manifold 
temptations, that the trial of your faith in this falva- 
tion, being much more valuable than the trial of gold, 
that peri/beth, though it be tried with fire, might be 
found unto praije, and honour, and glory at the ap- 
pearing, or rather, as, $v oltcqxxXv^u, properly fig- 
nifies, at the revelation of Jefus Chrifl. 

Molt commentators are of opinion, that the fal- 
vation ready to be revealed, in the laft time, in the 
5 th verfe, and the revelation of Jefus Chrift, at the 
clofe of the 7 th verfe, relate to the final and ever- 
lafting falvation of mankind in a future ftate. But 
the courfe of the apoftle's argument appears to me, 
to require thefe expreiTions to be underftood of 
the falvation to which the Gentiles, as a people, 
were about to be introduced, by the full revelation 
of the true nature and defign of the coming of 
the Meffiah, by the defiruclion of Jerufalem, when 
the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile would 
be broken down, and, as this apoftle, in his fecond 
epiftle, has exprelTed it, Jo n eisq$qs, the way, or 
entrance ) would be abundantly enlarged into the ever- 

lafting 



( 1*3 ) 



lafting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jefus 
Cbrifl. 

It feems hardly poftlble, to put any other fenfe 
upon what the apoftle fays, in the 10th and follow- 
ing verfes, namely, that it was, of this falvation that 
the prophets enquired and Jearched diligently, who pro- 
fbefied of the grace, or favour, that was to come unto 
them i for the term, grace, or favour, mod: unques- 
tionably, has an allufion to the Jahation which was 
ready to be revealed. But this is not all 3 for, the 
apoftle goes on and fays, v. 11. that the prophets 
Jearched, e<s nvoc, to whom, or to what time, the fpl- 
rit of Chrift, which was in them, related, when it tes- 
tified beforehand the Jufferings of Chrift, and the glory 
that fljould follow thofe fufterings. Unto whom it 
was revealed, that, not unto themfelves, as Jews, but 
unto you, Gentiles, they did minifter the things 
which are now reported unto you, by them that have 
peached the gofpel unto you, with the Holy Ghoftjent . 
down Jrom heaven which things the angels dejire to 
look into. 

This lad expreffion is a very remarkable one ; 
and, if I conjecture right, not only ftrongly con- 
firms the preceding interpretation, but is deferving 
of very particular attention, as it feems to me to 
allude to a faff, which makes a very confpicuous 
figure in the hiftory of the A6ls of the Apoftles, 
and in the hiftory too of St. Peter himfelf. From 
this hiftory, it appears, that nothing could have 
been further from the thoughts of every Jew, than 

M 2 that 



( 1 64 ) 

that the Gentiles mould be partakers of the pri- 
vileges and bleflings of the Mejjiah' s kingdom \ and 
St. Peter was fo fully confirmed in the general 
opinion, that he even thought it unlawful to keep 
company with, or to go to one of another nation. 
And nothing, it appears, could overcome this 
reluctance to have any communication with the 
Gentiles, but a particular revelation from heaven 
of the favour which was to be extended to the 
Gentile world. What was I, that I JImdd wiihftand 
God? When, therefore, the apoftle, fpeaking of the 
call of the Gentiles , fays, which things the angels , or 
rnenengers define to loch into, he appears to me, 
evidently to allude to the aftoniibment, which this 
meafure of divine providence produced upon the 
minds of the apoftles, in general, as well as upon 
himfelf in particular. 

But there is ftill further, and, as I conceive, 
ftronger evidence what St. Peter means, by the 
'appearing, or revelation of Jefus Chrifi, for St. 
Luke, when fpeaking of the definition of Jem/ale?;?, 
makes life, precifely, of the fame words with St. 
Peter, chap. xvii. 28- 30, As it was in the days of 
hot, even thus fhall it be when the Son of Man, 
a7rc>taXu7rTETa», is revealed % i. e, when it will fully 
appear that the great object of the coming of the 
Meffiah was, not as the Jews imagined, exclu- 

0 That this paffage and the whole of the connexion from 
the 19th verfe relates, extlufively, to the deftru&ion ofjerufa- 
lem, fee the Triumphs of Chriftiani ty, p. 131 to 140. 

fively 



C '6S ) 



fively to benefit themfelves, by raifing them to 
an univerfal empire over the whole world, but 
to include within his benevolent views, the whole 
race of mankind. Gentiles as well as Jews. 

The apoftle having thus ailerted that the 
call of the Gentiles was clearly forefeen and fore- 
told by the ancient prophets, and having led 
them to expect the complete fulfilment of thefe 
prophecies, he very pertinently founds upon it an 
important and peculiarly appropriate admonition, 
Ver. 13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds, 
be fober, and hope to the end ; that is, entertain a 
firm confidence of the grace, or favour, which is 
about to be brought to you Gentiles, as a nation w 
**pcrtv4?i» ai *b e revelation of Jefus Ckrijl. 

There is fqmething extremely natural, in the 
apofde's congratulating the converts to Chriftianity, 
upon their being made partakers of its privileges 
and blefiings, and in his telling them, that the 
time was near approaching, when thefe good tid- 
ings, which had been the fubjecl: of antient pro- 
phecy, w T ould have a more extended and a wider in- 
fluence upon the Gentile world. A more pleafing 
fubjecl; could hardly have occupied the attention 
of an apoftle, who was now completely divefted of 
his prejudices ! Nor is there, I am bold to fay, 
in the annals of antiquity, a (Ironger proof of the 
authenticity of a letter written under the circu al- 
liances of thofe times, than this chapter prefents to 
our view. It mud have been irnpoflihie for an 



( »66 ) 

apoftle, imprefted as St. Peter was, with the in- 
eftimable value of the benefits to be conferred upon 
the Gentile world, not to have adopted fuch a 
language ! 

Having, as I conceive, in the former part of this 
work, when controverting the prefent Bifhop of 
London's opinion, concerning the defign of the 
transfiguration, given an accurate reprefentation of 
the genuine meaning of St. Peter, when he averted, 
1 Ep. i. 1 6, We have not followed cunningly devifed 
fables, when we made known to you the power and 
coming of our Lord Jefus Chrifl, and of the fubfe- 
quent context, I fhall not repeat it here, but pro- 
ceed to the confideration of the fecond chapter; 
the principal object of which, appears to have been, 
to guard thofe to whom he wrote, againfl falfe 
prophets and falfe teachers,, who would arife among 
them, as our Lord had exprefsly p red idled, to fe- 
duce them from the truth, and particularly from 
the true doctrine, concerning the coming of Chrift. 
V. i , But there were falfe prophets among the people, 
even as there fhall be falfe teachers among you, who 
privily fhall bring in, atpso-mg cnruhEiKSy dejlruffive he- 
refies, denying the Lord that bought them, bringing 
upon t hen nj elves fwift defiruclion. And many fhall fol- 
low their pernicious ways, by reafon of whom, the way 
of truth fhall be evil fpoken of. And through covetouf- 
nefs fhall they, with feigned words, make merchandize, 
of you ; whoje judgment now of a long time lingereth 
pot> and their defiruclion flumbereth not. 

The 



( 1 67 ) 

The character of thefe falfe teachers, the apoftle 
defences, at full length, in the fubfequent part 
of the chapter ; and that his great object, in thus 
particularly delcrioing them, might not be miftaken, 
he, in the following chapter, acquaints them with 
what was his principal defign in both his epifties, 
V. i, This fee end epiftie, beloved, I now write unto 
you su a is, in both which I ftir up your pure minds, 
by zvay of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the 
words which mere formerly Jpoken by the holy prophets, 
and of the commandment of us the apoftles of the Lord 
and Saviour \ knowing this fir ft, thai there jhall come, 
in the laft days, /coffers, walking after their own lufts, 
and faying, Where is the promife of his coming ; for 
fince the fathers fell afleep, all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation ? 

The apoftle having afFerted that, in both his 
epitlles, his great object was, that they fliould be 
mindful of the words which were formerly Jpoken by 
the holy prophets, has, I think, clearly directed us 
how to underftand the language of the fcofrcrs, 
when they faid, Where is the promife of his coming ? 
for, in his firft epiftie, ch. i. 10, he tells thofe to 
whom he wrote, that the prophets had prophejied of 
the grace, or favour, that was about to be beftowed 
upon the Gentiles. He fpeaks alfo of a falvation that 
was ready to be revealed, and of the revelation of 
Jefus Chrift. And, in his fecond epiftle, he fays, 
the entrance , or way, was about to be abundantly en- 
large d into the everlafling kingdom of our Lord and 

M 4 Saviour 



( i6l ) 



Saviour Jefus Chrift. And in this connexion, he 
fays, We have not followed cunningly devtfed fables 
when we made known to you the power and coming of 
our Lord Jefus Chrift, at the fame time declaring, 
that the word of prophecy concerning his coming, 
was more fully confirmed, by the figns which were then 
appearing, to which they did well to take heed as to 
a light fhining in a dark place until the day dawn, and 
the day ftar, p or the fun, arife upon your hearts. ■ 

In all thefe places, the apoflle appears to me to 
allude to the deftrutlion of Jerujalem, which was to 
open a way to the Gentiles participating in all the 
privileges and bleffings of the Meffiah's kingdom. 
In the chapter under confideration, the apoflle ufes 
the phrafe which he had adopted in the firfl chap- 
ter of this epiftle, where, he had afTerted, that the 
apoftles had not followed cunningly devifed fables when 
they made known the power and coming of the Lord 
Jefus. Here, he fays, fcoffers arofe, in oppofition, 
and faid, Where is the promife of his coming? And 
the reafon they gave for their feoffs, was, that all 
things continued as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. And when we combine the whole of what 
the apoflle has faid in his two epiflles, with what 
our Lord himfelf had faid, concerning the deftrutlion 

p Dr. Benfon has obferved that, <pcvc(popo$ does commonly 
iignify the morning Jtar, which is called Lucifer, or Venus. 
But Suidas. fays, it fometimes fignifies the fun, whofe part it 
is (puj.s (popziv, to hring in the light. And, accordingly, the 
Syriac hath here tranflated it, the fun. See Benfon in loc. 

7 of 



( i*9 ) 

cfjerufalsm, which had not yet taken place, I do 
not fee how, upon the principles of found criti- 
cifm and juft reafoning, the apoftle's language can 
be otherwife applied, than to the controverfy con- 
cerning the coming of the MeJJiah. 

But befides this, there is, I think, other evidence, 
in the fubfequent part of the chapter, that this was 
the apoftle's genuine meaning ; for, in the feventh, 
verfe, the apoftle fays, the heavens which are now, 
hy the fame word of prophecy, mentioned in the for- 
mer epiftle, are kept in fore, referved unto fire agalnft 
the day of judgment and deflruclion, cwuXsius, of un- 
godly men. And in the tenth verfe, it is remark- 
able, that the apoftle ufes the very fame language 
adopted by St. Paul, from the antient prophecies 
defcriptive of temporal calamities, in i Theff. v. 2, 
The day of the Lord will fo come as a thief in the 
night, in which day, the heavens fhall pafs away with 
a great wife, and the elements, fhall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth alfo, and the works that are therein fhall 
he burnt up. This language will probably receive a 
precife and determinate fignification, if it is com- 
pared with what the writer of the epiftle to the 
Hebrews has made ufe of ; for he exprefsly fays, 
that the Jhaking of the earth and the heavens, ftgnifies 
the removing of thofe things that are f oaken that 
thofe things which cannot, be f oaken may remain. 
And it was a very ft r iking part of our Lord's 
prediction of the deflruclion of Jerufalem, that the 
powers of the heavens Jhould be Jhaken. Upon our 

Lord's 



( i7° ) 

Lord's prediction, therefore, the apoftle feems to 
ground the following declaration, v. 15, We, ac- 
cording to his promife, look for new heavens and a 
new earthy wherein dwelleth rightecufnefs ; and. upon 
this expectation He makes a moil approp'hie prac- 
tical exhortation ; Wherefore, beloved, feeing that ye 
look for theft things, that is. for the new heavens 
and the new earth, be diligent that ye may be found of 
him in peace, without fpot and blamelefs, and account 
that the longfuffefing of our Lord is falvation, even 
as our beloved brother Paul alfo, according to the wif- 
dom given unto him, hath written unto you. As alfo, 
in all his epiftles, f peaking ofthefe things, in which fome 
things are hard to be underftood, which they that are 
a,y<a.§u$, uninftrucled and unftable, wreft, as they do 
alfo the other Jcriptures to their own dcftruclion. 

If I do not very much miflake, there is, in this 
allufion to St. Paul's epifties, very linking evidence 
of the genuine meaning of St. Peter, in the chap- 
ter under confederation ; for it is exprefsly aiTerted 
by St. Peter, whatever he is treating of, that St. 
Paul, in his epiftles, treats of the fame. In all 
his epiftles /peaking in them ofthefe things. The apof- 
tle adds, in which are fome things hard to be under" 
flood. It has been a matter of fome trouble to 
commentators to comprehend what the things were 
which St. Paul's epiftles contained, that were fo 
hard to be underftood. Dr. Benfon has mentioned 
Beza, as arTerting, that St. Peter has faid more 
things^ and more obfcure things, concerning the 

laft 



( Ip ) 

loft day, than Paul has done in any p2rt of his 
epiftles. And he himfelf fays, he does not find that 
St. Paul has faid any thing remarkably obfcure or 
difficult in what he has faid about the laft day, or 
about the other particulars which St. Peter has here 
treated of. 

But thefe difficulties, fo perplexing to Dr. Ben- 
fon, would immediately vaniOi, if by the things 
hard to be underftood, in St. Paul's epiftles, be 
meant the diffolution of the Hebrew ft ate, the rejection 
of the Jews, and the adniiffion of the Gentiles to the 
participation of the blejfmgs of the Meffah's kingdom ; 
for thefe were fubjects of which St. Paul frequently 
treated, and very hard indeed were they to be un- 
derstood by the Jews! And that St. Peter referred 
to the apoftle Paul's treating upon thefe fubjects, 
appears to me extremely evident from his fpeak- 
ing of them in the clofeft connection with the 
coming of Chrift, the diffolution of the heavens and 
the earth, and the looking for new heavens, and a 
new earth wherein dwelleth right eoufnefs. 

When St. Peter further fays, that the a^u;, the 
uninftrufied, and the urnpixTot, the unftable, wrefted 
thefe hard things to their own deftru^lion, as they 
did alfo the other fcriptures ; the hiflory of the 
Jewifh nation, as prefented to us in the gofpel 
hiftory, and particularly in the hiftory of the A&s 
of the Apoftles, give the fulieft lanclion to his 
ailertion. They wrefted the prophecies concerning 
the coming of their Meiiiah to their proud and 

ambitious 



( i?2 ) 

ambitious views of aggrandizement, and to their 
expectation of obtaining, under his aufpices, an uni- 
verfal empire over the whole world. And, becaufe 
he laid no claim to any fuch character, they reject- 
ed and crucified him, as a notorious malefactor 
and impoftor. They would not attend to the 
awful warnings, that God was about to forfake 
them, and they were inflamed, even to madnefs, 
when St. Paul fpoke of going to the Gentiles to 
make them the offers of falvation. Away with 
fuch a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he 
Jhould live. They perfecuted, with unrelenting 
fury, all who ventured to fpeak to the Gentiles 
upon this fubject, and, at length, brought on 
themfelves the ruin with which they had been 
threatened. 

I have thus faithfully endeavoured to afcertain 
the genuine meaning of the apoille Peter ; whe- 
ther I have fucceeded, my readers muft judge j 
but I feel much gratified in presenting the fenti- 
ments of the learned Dr. Lightfoot, upon this fub- 
ject, whom Mr. Maltby mentions., as throwing 
more light upon the language and allufions of the 
facred volumes, than aim oft all other commenta- 
tors whatsoever.* 1 Speaking of the dejiruffiton of 
Jerufakm> he fays, " It is fet forth in fuch ex- 
preffions as if it were the deftruftion of the whole 

3 I think it neceffary t'o inform my readers, that I have 
taken fome flight liberties with Dr. Lightfoot's language but; 
for the fenfe^ I pledge snyfelf, not to have mifreprefented it. 

world. 



( 173 ) 



world. Mofes begins this ftyfe in Deut. xxxii. 22, 
where he is fpeaking of that vengeance. A fire 
is kindled in mine anger, and it jhall burn to the lowefi 
hell, and it Jhall conftme the earth with her increafe, 
and Jet on fire the foundations of the mountains. So 
again, Jei\ iv. 23, I beheld the earth, and lo, it 
was without form and void: and the heavens, and 
they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and they 
trembled. I beheld, and there was no man, and all the 
birds of the heavens were fled. In both thefe inftances, 
it might be imagined, that the whole univerfe 
were difTolving; yet, in the former, the connection 
plainly mows it to mean the deftru5fion of the Jewijh 
nation. And in the latter, it is exprefsly faid, the 
whole land Jhall be deflate. 

In the New Teftament, our Lord (peaks a yet 
ilronger language, Matt. xxiv. 29. <The fun Jhall be 
darkened and the moon Jhall not give her light, and the 
jlars Jhall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
heavens Jhall be fioaken, and then Jhall appear the 
Jign of the Son of Man in heaven. Who would not 
conclude that thefe expreflions mean, the diffolution 
of the world, and Chrift's coming to judgment f 
yet the context fhews plainly, that this language is 
meant only of the diffolution of the Jewijh ft ate ; 
which our Lord expreffes, ftill more plainly, when 
he fays, v. 34, This generation Jhall not pafs away 
till all thefe things be fulfilled. In the fixth chapter 
of the Revelations, St. John follows his mailer's 
ftyle upon the very fame fubjccl/ for, after having 

defcribed 



C 174 ) 

defcribed the means of the deftruciion of this 
wretched people, by fword, famine, and plague, 
he, in the 12th and following verfes, mentions their 
diffolution itfelfin fimilar terms. Hhe fun became 
Mack as Jackchth of hair, and the moon became as 
Hood, and the ftars of heaven fell to the earth, 
and the heavens departed as a fcrcll that is rolled to- 
gether, and every mountain and ifland were removed 
cut of their places. Here, again, the final diffolution 
cf the whole world feems to be fpoken of but, in 
the 16th verfe ? the very fame words are applied to 
the deftruUion of that very people, by our Lord, in 
St. Luke, ch. xxiii. 30. They /aid unto the maintains, 
fall on us and hide us. St. Peter's meaning therefore, 
when he fpeaks of the heavens being diffolved by fire, 
and the works that are therein, &c. Dr. Lightfoot 
concludes, appears only to have been, that the 
Jewifo church and ftate were to be diffolved by the 
juft vengeance of God. 

I cannot refrain from prefenting to the reader 
what this learned writer has farther faid, upon the 
general phrafeology of the New Teftament, as it 
coincides, moft exactly, with my own ideas upon 
the fubject. IC As the deftruclion of the old world, 
or of the Jewifh economy, is defcribed by fuch 
exprefiions as if it was the deftruclion of the univerje-, 
fo," he fays, " the times going before, and connected 
with, the deftruclion of Jerufalem, are likewife de- 
fcribed by exprefiions equally fuitable. Thus, fre- 
quent mention is made in fcripture, of the laft 

days, 



( m ) ' 

days* which are not to be underftood of the laft 
days of the world* but of the Jewijh fate. The 
greateft mercies were pro mi fed to take place ia 
thefe laft days, and the word of men and times are 
predicted of them, becaufe they did not improve 
them. Jn a fimilar fenfe are fuch phrafes as thefe 
to be underfbood. Upon whom the ends of the world 
are come ; the end of all things is at hand j meaning 
in both cafes, not the end of the world * in the 
(tricl fenfe of that expreffion, but the end of the 
Jewijh church and ftate. Again, the vengeance of 
Chrift, upon that people, in their final deftruclion, 
is called, his comings his coming in his kingdom, his 
coming in cluds, and with power and great glory ; 
nor is this language merely figurative; for our 
Lord had himfelf faid, This generation floall not pafs 
away till all thefe things be fulfilled. Accordingly, 
the day of that vengeance is called, the day of the 
Lord. Once more, the ftate of the Chriitian 
church, after the diflblution of the Jewifti eco- 
nomy, is fometimes called the world to come, fome- 
times new heavens and a new earth, and fometimes, 
all things new from all which it appears, that St. 
Peter fpeaks of the diffohition of the Jewijh church 
and ftate, in fuch terms, as the fcripture ufes to 
exprefs it by, as if it were the diffolution of the whole 
world. r5 ' 

I have 

r See Dr. Lightfoot's Sermon on 2 Pet. Hi. 13. in his 
works, vol. ii, p. 1 078-4. 

Tn 



( 176 ) 

I have now conduced my readers, or rather fuf- 
fered myfclf to be conducted, through a large por- 
tion of the gofpel hiftory, and of the apoftolic 
epiftles, upon the uncontrovertible principle, that 
the former is an hiftory of the controverfy between 
our Lord and the Jews concerning the true nature 
of the Meffiah's character, and that the latter could 
not have been filent upon the fubjecl: while that 
controverfy remained at ifiue ; that is, while the 
predictions of our Lord, concerning the de fir no- 
tion of Jerusalem were unfulfilled. The fuccefs. of 
my inquiries, upon this principle, has in my own 
opinion, atleaft, been very fatisfa&ory ; but whether 
my readers will think with me mud be left to time 

In the prophecy of Ifaiah, there is the following remarkable 
paffage, which particularly claims the reader's attention, ch.lxv. 
2, &c. Ye are they that forfahe the Lord, that forget my holy 
'mountain. Therefore ivill I niwiber you to the ftvord, and ye 
fliall bozv doivn to the flaughter. Behold my fervants fliall fmg 
for joy of lieart, hut ye fliall cry for forroiv and hoivl for vex* 
ation of fbirit, and ye fliall leave your name for a curfe to my 
chofen ; for the Lord God, fliall flay thee, and call his fervants 
ly another name ; for behold 1 create nciv heavens and a new 
earth. 

It will, I think, be impofnble to read this paffage without 
being convinced, that it relates to the deuruction of Jeru- 
falem and the call of the Gentiles. Befides the wickednefs- 
which is faid to be the caufe of their calamities, their leav- 
ing their name for a curfe, and his fervants being called by 
'another name, are extremely remarkable, and can hardly be 
applied to any other event than to the eftablimment of tin 
Chrijiian name. And the creating new heavens and a neiv earth 
is the very language of the apoftle Peter. 

to 



( 177 ) 

to determine. It will readily be difcerned, that 1 
had an hypothec's to fupport, but that hypothefe 
being invulnerable, there feems to have been lefs 
danger of taking unjuflifiable methods of defend- 
ing it. If I have, I mod earneftiy intreat, that the 
lovers of truth will come forward to expofe it; 
for I know of nothing that would afford me 
greater pleafure than to fee truth triumphant, what- 
ever may be the confequences to myfelf. From 
the number of years that this fubject has occupied 
my attention, and from the manner in which I 
have treated it, or thofe who have differed from 
me, I feel no apprehenfions of thofe confequences, 
but rather conceive myfelf entitled to the approba* 
tion of all the friends of Chriftianity. I have 
however, heretofore been too fanguine upon the 
fubjecl, and it would, perhaps, be more becoming 
in me to wait in filence for the public opinion* 
But be that as it may, I cannot conclude without 
making a few obfervations. 

The firft obfervation that I (hall make, is, that 
if the gofpel hiftory be an hiftory of the controverfy 
between our Lord and the Jews, concerning the 
true nature cf the Meffial/s charaEfer^ there is, in- 
comparably more evidence of the truth of that 
hiftory, than of any of the moft celebrated writings 
of antiquity. Every page of the gofpels contains 
the moll: ftriking marks of this controverfy, and 
almofl: every letter of the apoftles, is a flrong con- 
firmation of their having confidered them as hiftories 

N of 



( W ) 

of that controversy. From hence, I think, I am war- 
ranted in this concluncn, that the miracles which 
are recorded in it, are deferving of the fulleft cre- 
dit. If thefe miracles had been recorded in an 
hiftory, which had been deficient in the internal evi- 
dence of its authenticity, they would, in my humble 
opinion, have been deferving of no regard ! But 
we have teftimony the moft refpeclable, and evi- 
dence the moft unqueftionahle, that at the time of 
our Lord's appearance, the whole Jewifh nation 
expected a perfon under the char after of their Mef- 
fiah y and that throughout the whole gofpel hiftory, 
and the whole period fubfequcnt to the death of 
Chrift to the deJlruSJicn of Jeriifakm, they uniformly 
acted under the influence of that expectation, 
though under an erroneous idea, that he was to be 
a temporal prince, to conduct them to conqueft, and 
to an univerfal empire ever the whole world. We 
have evidence too throughout the whole courfe of 
that hiftory, that our Lord and his apoftles con- 
dueled themfelves in the manner, which, from the 
nature of their feveral fituations might, a priori, 
have been expected, and that, m fact, the former 
could not have acted otherwife than he did, with- 
out effectually defeating the .great purpofes of his 
million. This, I repeat, gives a credibility to the 
miraculous part of the gofpel hiftory, which it 
would otherwife want. In fact, if the miracles ot 
the gofpel, blended as they are with every page or 
the gofpel hiftory, were net wrought, Chriftianity 

is 



C 179 ) 



is the greateft and moft execrable impofture that 
ever exifted ! 

The late Sir William Jones, whofe great attain- 
ments have defervedly placed him in the higheftrank 
of intellectual eminence, after polTefling himfeif of 
all that the fages and philofophers of all times have 
faid upon the works of nature, has made the fol- 
- lowing obfervations upon the records of our reli- 
gion, which the preceding work, fo far as they re- 
gard the New Teftament, will be found amply to 
juftify. ft I have," he fays, " regularly and atten- 
tively read thefe holy fcriptures, and am of opi- 
nion, that this volume, independently of its divine 
origin, contains more true fublimity, more exqui- 
fite beauty, more pure morality, more important 
hiftory, and finer ftrains both of poetry and elo* 
quence, than can be collected from all other books, 
in whatever age or language they may have been 
compofed. The two parts of which the fcriptures 
confift, are connected by a chain of compofitions, 
which bear no refemblance, in form or ftyle, to 
any that can be produced from the ftores of Grecian* 
Perjian, or even Arabian learning : the antiquity of 
thefe compofitions no man doubts; and the un- 
ftrained application of them to events longfubfequent 
to their publication, is a folid ground of belief that 
they are genuine productions, and confequently in- 
. fpired.'" 



8 See Afiatie Refearches, voJ, iil p, 8, 

N 2 The 



( i«o ) 

The value of this teftimony of Sir William Jones 
to the evidence and excellence of the fcriptures, is 
greatly enhanced by a remark which he makes in 
another part of his writings, viz. " That his tefti- 
mony on this fubjecl, ought to have the greater 
weight, becaufe, if the rcfult of his obfervations 
had been totally different, he mould neverthelefs 
have publifhed them; not, indeed, with equal plea- 
fure, but with equal confidence; for truth is 
mighty, and whatfoever be its confequences, muft 
always prevail."' 

Another obfervation, which I wifh ftrongly to 
imprefs upon my readers is, that thefe fcriptures, 
fo confefledly. excellent and full of evidence, to 
have full juftice done them, ought to be iludied 
with a ftric> regard to the fober rules of genuine 
criticifm and juft reafoning, and that both the gof- 
pels and epiftles mould be confidered as having a 
fpecial relation to the controverfy between our Lord 
and the Jews concerning the truenature of the Mejjiah's 
character. A view to this controverfy, mod unques- 
tionably., is effentiai to the right undemanding of the 
New Teftament. For the truth and importance of 
this obfervation, I dare venture to appeal to the 
xxivth of Matthew, and the parallel chapters to 
the fifth chapter of the ill and the fecond of the 
od epiflle to the Thefialonians, to the two fird 
epiftles of St. John, and to both the epiftles of St. 



f lb. vol. w. p. 3, 4, 



Peter i 



( i8i ) 

Peters in all which, a regard to this controveriy 
has tended materially to elucidate the defign of the 
writers. The fame may be faid of particular paf- 
fa2;es which have been involved in fo much obfcu- 
rity as to Jay a foundation for the objection that our 
Lord foretold his Jecorul cc;;ihir, to judge all man- 
kind in the generation in which he lived; fuch as 
when he faid, that his apoftles jhould not have gone 
over the cities ofjerujalem before the Son of Man came? 
and that there wm feme then living who Jhould not 
tafle of death, till they Jaw the Son of Man coming in 
his kingdom. 

Some writers, and thofe of no mean confider- 
ation in the Chriftian world, in their interpretation 
of the xxivth of Matthew, and the parallel chapters, 
have had recourfe to types and double meanings, 
whereby they have greatly disfigured, if not cor- 
rupted, the Simplicity of the narratives, and at the 
fame time deprived themfelves of the very important 
advantages which they otherwife would obviouily 
have held forth, of clearing the fenfe of fome of 
the obfcurefl parts of the apoMoiic epiftles. They 
have, indeed, appealed to thefe chapters for, the 
proof of their interpretations, but in fo doing, they 
have manifested fomething like difingenuoufnefs, 
in dropping the distinction they had made between 
the primary and fecondary fenfes, and in taking it 
for granted, that it was not the deftruclion of Jeru- 
salem, but the day of Judgment, that was the Subject 
of thofe chapters, though they had allowed that 

N 3 they 



( 182 ) 



they referred primarily to the former of thefe 
events. 

I have been at considerable pains, to afcertain 
the genuine meaning of thefe chapters, and have 
offered what appears to me to be unanfwerable 
proofs, that they relate, exclufively, to the dejiruc* 
tion of Jerufalem. My reafonings upon thofe parts 
of the epiftles, which have fallen under my notice, 
have been conducted upon this exclufive meaning. 
And, if thofe reafonings have led to a right under- 
ftanding of thofe paffages, the fact, that the evan- 
gelifts referred exclufively to that event, will, I think, 
be eftablimed beyond all reafonable doubt. In 
fact, to do juflice to the facred writings, all double 
meanings and fecondary fenfes muft, in my opinion,, 
be difcarded, and the gofpel hifiory mult -be ftudied 
wnh a clofe attention to the peculiar circumflances 
of the times, and to the controverfy which was then 
on foot, between our Lord and the Jews, concern- 
ing the true nature cf the Meffiatis character. 

What the iflue of an inquiry, conducted upon 
thefe principles, may be, it is impoffible for me to 
fay; but 1 think I may venture to predict,- that it 
will contribute much towards removing the odium 
with which commentators have been loaded, and 
I fear jufcly loaded, by Bifhop Newton in the fol- 
lowing remarkable paffage, " Many a text of 
fcripture," he fays, <c feemeth plain enough to a 
man upon his reading it by himfelf, and compar- 
ing it with the context; but upon confulting the 

tribe 



( '3 3 ) 

tribe of paraphrads and annotators, he fcarcc 
knoweth what to think ; and iaftead of that one 
genuine fenfe, which he conceived, he hath ten or 
twenty fcnfes, or rather no fenfe at all. Commen- 
tors are a kind of necefTary evils; there is no doing 
well without them or with them." 

My opinion perfectly coincides with that of the 
prefent Bifhop of LJandafF, that " the mod critical 
fcrutiny into the foundations of our faith, will be 
a confirmation of its truth, and that the time is 
approaching, or is already come, when Chridianity 
will undergo a more, fevere investigation than it 
has ever yet done." His expectation, as to the 
ifTue, is this, " that catholic countries will become 
protedant, and thai: protedant countries will ad- 
mit a further reformation." And I mud beg leave 
to add my further opinion, that there are no hu- 
man means fo likely to produce an ifiue fo de- 
finable, as the ftudying the icriptures, upon the 
* principles which, in the preceding work, I have 
mod closely, and I truft impartially, adhered to. 
That they have not heretofore been fo ftudied, 
mud be lamented by every friend of Chriftianity, 
and by none, more than myfelf, as I am perfuaded, 
I mould have been faved the anxious and labo- 
rious purfuits, which have fo long occupied my 
attention. I can now, however, fay, from a large 
lhare of experience, without detracting from the 
life of other fources of information, that fcripture is 
infinitely the bed interpreter of fcripture,, and, if a 

N 4 proper 



• ( 1*4 ) 

proper ufe is made of it, that it will ultimately 
lead to the happieft confequences to mankind. 

Another obfervation, naturally arifmg from the 
preceding view, is, that it eftablifh.es a moll de- 
lightful harmony between the epifties and gofpels ; 
an harmony, which, at the fame time, in the 
ftrorigeft manner confirms the authenticity of the 
whole. Our Lord began his miniftry, by declaring, 
that the kingdom of heaven, or of the Meffiah, was 
at hand. To prove this important fact,, was the 
primary objetl of all his labours and of all his in ft ruc- 
tions. Upon the four great occafions, particularly 
when he gave his difcipies a corn million to an- 
nounce the near approach of that kingdom ; when he 
foretold his own fufferings and death ; when he pre- 
dicted the deftrufiion of Jerufalem - y and when he was 
arraigned^ tried, and condemned, as a notorious male- 
fatlcr and impqftor, for aJTuming the character of the 
Meffiah, he renewed 'the aflu ranee of its near ap- 
proach, faying, that his difcipies Jhould not have gone 
ever the cities of Ifrael, in the execution of the du- 
ties of their million, before the Son of Man came; 
that there were fome then living, who jhould not tafte 
of death till they faw the Son of Man coming in his 
hngdom i that as they knew, by the budding of the trees, 
that fummer was near, fo 'they would, as certainly 
know, by the figns of the approaching destruction 
of jerufalem, that the kingdom of heaven was nigh, 
, even at the doors - 3 and that, from the time of his 
crucifixion, thty jhould fee the Son of Man fitting on 

the 



( is s ) 

the right hand of power y and coming in the clcuds of 
heaven, i. c. manifefting the true nature and de~ 
figri of his coming, in the deftrufiion, not in the in- 
creafed profpenty, of the JewiOi nation! 

In the epiftles, the apoflles, with a particular 
view to the event, which was to be the final proof 
of the eitablifhment of the Meiliah's kingdom, 
ipeak of the Lord being at band, of the coming of 
the Lord drawing nigh, and of the coming of Chrift ; 
phrafes peculiarly adapted to exprefs the near ap- 
proach of the deftriiEtion of Jen fa km. And though 
it will readily be allowed, that there is a degree 
of ambiguity in thefe phrafes, yet, that very am- 
biguity will be confidered by all who attend to the * 
nature of the fubjetl to which they relate, as no 
flight proof that the aDoftles had that awful event 
in their view. Q In fome of the epiftles where thefe 

■ Our own times have, I think, furnifhed a very finking in- 
fiance of the extreme propriety, and even the abfolute neceffity 
of theapohles conducting themfelves in the very cautious man- 
ner, which the peculiarity of their fituation required. The noted 
Mr. Brothers, whether from political views, or from a mental 
derangement, is immaterial, predicted great calamities, as 
about to happen to this country, in a language which could 
not be mifunderrtood. When his predictions became the fub- 
jedt. of much attention, nothing can be more obvious, than 
that they, very properly, attracted the notice of Government \ 
for no Government can, with fafety, be inattentive to matters 
of this nature. If, therefore, the apoftles had not ufed the 
language of caution, in fpeaking of the destruction of Jerufa- 
lem, imprifonment, or a violent death, would, in all probabi- 
lity, have been the confequence. 

phrafes 



( i86 ) 



phrafes occur, there is fo clear and difbinct a refer- 
ence to the controverfy concerning the coming of 
Ckrifl > particularly in the two firft epiftles of St. 
John, and in the firft and third chapters of the 
fecond epiftle of St. Peter, that I do not fee how 
it is to be denied, without refitting the ftrongeft 
evidence! And, even in the fecond chapter of the 
fecond epiftle to the Theffalonians, there is fuch 
a finking refemblance of language to that of our 
Lord in his prediction of the 'deftruction of Jeru- 
falem, and the whole tenor of his defer iption ap- 
plies fo ex dtly to the Jews, that both together 
form a ftrong prefumption, that the apottle alludes 
to them. And it may, I think, be fafcly left to the 
reader to determine, whether greater advantage can 
accrue to the Chriftian religion by the application 
of St. Paul's language to the church of Rome, than 
i to the Jews, the latter being intimately connected 
with the aqcomplifhment of our Lord's prediction 
of the dejlrufficn of Jerusalem ! x 

A 

* It has been obferved by Mr. Zouch, that the titles of the 
man of tin, the fon of perdition, the lawlefs one, have been 
given to different perfonagrs; to the leaders of the fa6tious 
Jews, who revolted from the Romans, before the deftruclion 
ofJerufalem; to Caius Caligula, a mercilefs tyrant; to the 
emperor Titus, the delight of mankind; to Simon Magus ; 
to the Gnoftics ; to Mahomet ; nay, to the bright luminaries 
cf the reformation, John WiclirT and Martin Luther " 

Mr. Jones and the late Bifhopof St. Afaph, to both whofe 
opinions Mr, Kett has given his approbation, have applied 

them 



( i87 ) 

A fifth observation that I (hall trouble my 
readers with is, that it is impoffible to be fully 
fenfibie of the value of Chriftianity, without pay- 
ing particular attention to the circumftances of the 
times, when it was firft publilhed. Some idea is 
given us, in our Lord's fermon upon the mount, 
of the grofs corruptions of the effential laws of 
morality, by the Jewifh nation, and it was evi- 
dently the defign of his miffion in general, and of 
that fermon in particular, to correct thofe corrup- 
tions. But the prophecy of Ifaiah defcribes our 
Lord as given ^ <pw$ Svuvlfor a li^ht to the Gentiles^ 
and he fiyles himfelf as, re (pxg tqv kgo-^ou, the light 
of the world, 

" No candid mind , M Ays a very able writer, Cf can de- 
lire, and no ingenuity could devife, amore convincing 
demon ftrati on of the truth of the gofpel, than the iu- 
perlative pre-eminence of the morality of zht gofpel 
above the doctrines of Gentile philofophy, and the 
deductions of what is ufually called, natural religion. 
The precepts of Chriftianity, refpecting the regu- 

them to more modern times j but, as appears to me, without 
foundation. It is a £ne obfervation of Mr. Zouch, that " the 
fyftem of prophecy is not vague or uncertain, that it feldom 
derives any elucidation from the propofal of ha fly conjectures. 
The events which conttitute its completion, flow along the 
ftream of time, in a regular and uninterrupted fucceflion. 
Predicted revolutions, which are yet future, will, in due courfe^ 
be fo decidedly fulfilled, as to leave no room for fcepticifm 
itfelf to fluctuate in fufpenfe." See Mr. Zouch's Attempt, 
p. 18, 19. How ftrikingly was this the cafe in our Lord's pre- 
diction of the deftruttion of jerufalcm! 

lation 



( i88 ) 

lation of our lives in every branch of duty, not 
only excel in fublimity of fentiment, and in fuit- 
ablenefs to this proper end, the refinement of the 
heart, and the exaltation of the human character, 
to the higheft point attainable by rational intelli- 
gence j not only excel, I fay, in thefe refpecb, the 
morality of any fingle philofopher of antiquity, but 
the concentrated wifdom of every moraiift and phi- 
lofopher, of every age and nation. This, fnrely, is 
a prodigious confederation, and conftitutes an ir- 
refifxible force of evidence. At the fame time, 
there is no hazard, no ralhnefs, in this aiiertion j no 
fear of incurring an imputation of groundlefs con- 
fidence, or childifh partiality. The field is open to 
the unbeliever; the diligence and wit of ages have 
been employed in furnifhing him with armour for 
the combat: the challenge is made in form, and 
the contefl is capable of decifion. But, it were in 
vain to expect from him, an open engagement on 
fuch unequal terms. He knows too well, that our 
Galilean has brought down from the fkies what 
Socrates, inferior only to the Galilean, wifhed for, 
but wifhed in vain. 

€c But, one fallacy, which has probably milled the 
underfbndings of many on this fubjecl:, muft not 
be palled by, undetected. Produce rne the man, 
who can juftly claim a fuperiority in native endow- 
ments, and the accomplifhments of learning to 
the Plato's, the Ariftotles, the Zenophons, the Tul- 
lys of Greece and Rome, Is that within the com- 

pafs 



( i3 9 ) 

pafs of his intellect, which thefe heroes were un- 
able to attain? To form a true judgment, there- 
fore, of the powers of unaffifted reafon, and the 
progrefs of natural religion*', we ought to recur to 
thofe fyftems of morality, which exifted before the 
birth of Chriftianity. They alone are the reafonable 
fpecimens of thofe powers, the genuine proof of 
that progrefs. . The various fchemes of moral phi- 
lofophy, which have been derived, or rather drawn 
up, beneath the funfhine of the gofpel, have re- 
ceived too much illumination , from that fource, to 
pafs, with confiderate examiners, for a proper teft: 
of the abilities of man, unaided by revelation. 
Educated under thofe benign influences, which 
Chriftianity has exerted on life and manners, we 
have ■ imperceptibly imbibed a portion of its vivi- 
fying fpirk, and eanly mi flake that for an efful- 
gence of native light, which is but a reflection of 
a brighter luminary, unobferved from a long fa- 
miliarity with its effects, 

"The fountain of living waters, tuft flowed indeed 
only in Judea, but has fince difperfed rivulets of 
health and vigour through every region of the uni- 
verfe. Nay, farther, the purer morality of the 
later Grecian fchools, and the funking fuperiority 
in the theories of modern times, over the old phi- 
lofophers, afford of themfelves an incontrover- 
tible proof, that the waters of Ifrael far tranfcend 
in falutary virtues, all the rivers of Damafcus." 7 

7 See Wakefield's Internal Evidences of the Excellence of 
Chriftianity, p. 12, &c. 

7 I (hall 



( 190 ) 

I ihall only acid, to what this writer has fo well 
faid of the fuperior excellence of the Chriftian 
morality, that it embraces what/ ever things are 
true, bonefty juft, pure, lovely, and of good report, 
teaching men to deny ungodlinefs and worldly lufls, and 
to live foherly, right ecufly, and godly in this world, and 
to direct all their actions by the fublime principles 
of love to God and man. And what conftitutes 
the principal glory of this morality is, that it car- 
ries along with it a provifion for the weakneffes and 
frailties of human nature in the performance of 
the duties of it. Chriftianity is, in this refpect, 
peculiarly to ivocyysXiov, the go/pel, or good news of 
pardon and forgiven eft, and that without the 
moft remote encouragement to fin. 

Nor is this all, for Chriftian ity, while it chalks 
out the fe cure ft path to happinefs in this life, 
teaches and encourages thofe who walk in it, to 
look forward to the rewards of immortality in a 
future ftate. The great apofile Paul, on a retro- 
ipect of his paft conduct, t bough before his con- 
verfion he had been a perfecutor and a blaf- 
phemer, cherifhes, in the near profpect of a violent 
death, the utmoft confidence in the divine mercy* 
and the moft animating profpect of a blefted im- 
mortality. I have fought a good fight, n / have finijhed 
my courfe, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is 
laid up for me, c crovm of right eoufnefs which the 
Lord, the righteous judge 0 fhall give to me at that day : 
and not to me only, hut to all them alfo 9 that love bis 

appearing 



( i9i ) 



appearing. And, in the fame epiftle, he fays that, 
the purpofe and grace which was given us in Cbrift 
Jefus before the world began, is now made manifefl by 
the appearing of our Saviour Jefus Cbrift, who hath 
abolijhed death, and hath <pcali<r»VToq fully made known 
life and immortality by the G of pel, z 

My laft obfervation is, that the deftruclion ofje- 
rujalem? at the fame time that it is a fignal proof of 
the truth of Chriflianity y is likewife an awful example 
to all fucure ages of the divine vengeance on a guilty 
nation. The deft rue! ion of Jerufalem was a de- 
cifive iflbe of the controverfy between our Lord 
and the Jews, concerning the true nature of the 

2 Our common traaflation afferts, what I do not think the 
apoftle intended, viz. that life and immortality ivas brought 
to light by the Go/pel; for we have many proofs in the gof- 
pel hiftory, that the Jews believed in the doctrine of a future 
ftate j and the belief of the immortality of the foul and a future 
date, as Dr. Leland has obferved, obtained among mankind, 
in the earlieft ages; of which we have all the proof, that a 
matter of this nature is capable of. This learned writer adds, 
that n We find it equally obtained among the moft barbarous, as 
among the moft civilized nations. The ancient Scythians, 
Indians, Gauls, Germans, Britons, as well as the Greeks and 
Romans, believed that fouls are immortal, and tfiat men fhall 
live in another Hate after death, though it mult be confelTed, 
their ideas of it were very obfeure." See Leland's Advantage 
and Neceffity of Revelation, vol. ii. p. 268-9, & c. The apoftle 
Paul therefore, could only mean to affert, that what had be- 
fore been involved in much darknefs and obfeurity, was now ' 
more diftinctly and fully made known. And this appears to 
be the" precife meaning of the original. 

Meffiah's 



( ]$* ) 

MefTiah's character, as it (hewed plainly, how much 
they had been miftaken, when they fuppofed that 
he was to be a temporal prince, to conduct them 
to conqueft and to univerfal empire. And when 
it is confidered, that it was particularly predicted 
to take place in that generation, it forms, a mo ft 
linking evidence of the truth of our Lord's pro- 
phetic character. <c We may fafely," fays the Bi- 
fhop of London, " confider this prophecy as an 
unqueftionable proof of the divine foreknowledge 
of our Lord, and the divine authority of the gof- 
pel; and on this ground only, (were it neceflary) 
we might fecurely reft the whole fabric of our re- 
ligion. Indeed, this remarkable prediction has 
always been confidered, by every impartial perfon, 
as one of the moil powerful arguments in favour 
of Chriftianity \ and in our own times, more par- 
ticularly, (the Bifhop obferves,) a man of diftin- 
guifhed talents, and acknowledged eminence in his 
profeffion, and in the conftant habit of weighing, 
fifting, and fcrutinizing evidence, with the minutelt 
accuracy, in courts of juftice, has publicly declared, 
that he confidered this prophecy, if there were no- 
thing elfe to fupport Chriftianity, as abfolutely irre- 
fiftibk:^ 

As to the example, which the punifnment of the 
Jews exhibits to fucceeding ages, it is, indeed, a 
moft awful and affecting one; an example, which) 

a See Mr. Erfkiae's fpeech at the trial of Williams for pub* 
liftiing Paine's Age of Reafon, and the Bifhop of London's Leo 
tures, vol. ii. p. 180-1. 

at 



( m ) 



at this eventful and calamitous period, muft have a 
ftrong tendency to imprefs the mod hardened and 
infenfible. Europe is bleeding at every pore, and 
now lies proftrate at the feet of a tyrant, the mod 
execrable that ever difgraced the human form. 
And what renders its prefent fituation the more 
tremendous, is, that, humanly fpeaking, the hopes 
of deliverance are dwindled almoft to a point. Po- 
litical fagacity appears to be completely at a lofs 
to devife means of deliverance, from the gripe of a 
power, whofe ambition is infatiable. The nations 
of the continent are, at this moment, drinking deep 
of the cup of vengeance, and there feems but too 
much reafon to apprehend, that Hill greater cala- 
mities are yet in referve, in which our own nation 
may be deeply involved ; and the only melancholy 
privilege allotted us may be, that of being the laft 
to be fubdued. The deadly hatred, avowed by 
the haughty defpot towards this country, is well 
known, and his recent declaration, that he will put 
it out of our power to diilurb the peace of mankind, 
i. e. to put a Hop to his unjuftirjable ambition, ren- 
ders this highly probable. We have hitherto indeed 
refilled, and, in my humble opinion, nobly refilled 
this common enemy of mankind - 3 and far be it from 
me, to difcourage the exertion of thofe energies 
which have been fo honourable to us, and which, 
I trull, will ultimately be fuccefsful; but it cannot 
be denied that the clouds are gathering thick around 
us, and are apparently ready to burft over our heads. 

O It 



( 194 ) 



It would be as eafy for the Ruler of the univerfe, 
to work out our deliverance, as it has been to raife up 
him, who is now become the terror of the world, to 
be the fecurge of mankind ; but, have we deferved , 
fuch interference? Is there that regard to religion, 
that love of truth, that hatred of vice, in all its forms, 
which might have been expected from a people fo 
highly favoured as we have been? Is there not, 
rather, a molt lamentable tendency to infidelity and 
irreligion among us a fcandalous neglect of pub- 
lic worfhip, and an immorality of conduce, both 
in high and in low life, that has created the mod 
ferious alarm in the minds of good men ? Are 
there not the flrongeil appearances of noify pre- 
tenfions to patriotifm, folely with a view to the 
pofTeiTion of power, and a venality and corruption, y 
that is barefaced and unblufhing ? And, as to re- 
form, though the vyant of it is every where com- 
plained of, though reform or ruin has long fince 
been proclaimed through the land, b we fee but 
feeble traces of it j and, it is at lean:, a doubtful 
matter whether infiead of our becoming better, we 
are not, as a nation, growing worfc. 

When we ccnfider thefe things, thefe figns of 
the times, as Biihop Newton and many other good 
men- have obferved, the flouteft and moft fanguine 
of us all, muft tremble at the natural and probable 
confequences of them. God give us grace that we 

b See a well-written pamphlet, entitled Reform er Ruin. By 

John Bowdler, Efq. 1798. 

may 



V 



( 195 ) 

may know, at leqft, in this our day, the things which 
belong to our peace, before they are hid from our eyes. 
Never may fuch biindnefs happen to us, as befel 
the Jews , never may we think that our mountain 
ftandeth fo faft that it cannot be moved ! Our 
fca-girt ifle will {land us but in little ftead, if Pro- 
vidence thinks fit to punifh us. Means are never 
wanted to effect the purpofes of the Supreme Ruler 
of the world, either to punifh vice or to reward 
virtue, 



APPENDIX. 



( i9« ) 



APPENDIX, 

Containing Jome Remarks upon Mr. Kett's <c Hiftory 
the Interpreter of Prophecy," 

The prefcnt imperfect: ftate of fcripture criticifm 
is no where more ftrikingly vifible, than in the 
vague and loofe manner which has been adopted 
by all denominations of Chriftians, in their quo- 
tations from it. This practice was long fincc 
obferved and condemned by the great Mr. Locke, 
and, more recently, by the late Bifhop Newton, and 
by the prefent Bifhop of Llandaff. See pi 2, 3, of 
the preceding work. 

I am compelled to take fome notice of what I 
conceive to be a practice of this fort, adopted by 
Mr. Kett, in his Hiftory the Interpreter of Pro- 
phecy; for, if his quotations in different parts of 
his work are properly applied, a great part of my 
reaibning, in the preceding pages, muh 1 necelTarily 
fall to the ground. As the caufe of truth is deeply 
concerned in this matter, as well as the fuccefs of my 
labours, which however, comparatively fpeaking, are 
of little confequence, Mr. Kett will not, 1 truft, be 
offended at my pointing out, what appear to me 

to 



C '97 ) 

to be ftriking inftances of his mifapplication of 
fcripture to fubjeels to which they do not in reality 
belong. If this charge fhall prove to be unfound- 
ed, Mr. Kett will have a fair opportunity, either 
of vindicating the propriety of his quotations 
and of fhowing the fallacy of my reafoning, or 
of acknowledging that he has miftaken the fenfe of 
them. 

Mr. Kett is, with the prefent Bifhop of London, 
the profeffed advocate of the double meaning of 
the prophecies of the New Teflament, and his 
principal argument for it appears to be this, " that 
if the prophecies of the Old Teflament are allowed 
to admit of a "primary and ef a Jecondary accom- 
plifhment, there appears to be no reafon why a 
fimilar mode of interpretation fhould not be 
adopted refpe&ing the prophecies of the New 
Teftament." See vol. i. p. 3 1 2. And, in the fol- 
lowing page, he obferves that, (t we fhould be cau- 
tious in refiriccing the fenfe of any (prophecies) to 
one particular period, excepting thofe which are 
evidently thus confined by fcripture." 

It does not appear to me to be neceffary to 
enter into the queftion, though a very import- 
ant one, whether the prophecies of the Old Tef- 
tament do actually admit of a primary and a 
fecondary accomplilhment ; c becaufe all thofc 

prophecies 

* The reader, who is defirous of information upon this 
.fubjeft, will not be difappointed, if he confults Dr. Benfon'* 

effay 



( 193 ) 

prophecies with which I am more immediately 
concerned, and which Mr. Kett appears to me to 
have mifapplied, a r e actually confined to a par- 
ticular -period. Our Lord's prophecy of the deftruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, in particular, which I fup- 
pofe to be clofely connected with all the reft, 
is abfolutely, and in the ftrongeft terms that lan- 
guage will admit of, reftricted to the generation 
then exifting. All thefe things ft) all corns to pafs 
in this generation. This Mr, Kett has himfelf ad- 
mitted, in the fulled manner. « Our Lord," he 
fays, cc exprefsly declares, that all thefe things, that 
is, the folemn train of predictions concerning Jeru- 
falem, Jhould be fulfilled before the then prejent gene- 
ration jhould pafs away. 1 ' See p. 2 5 1 . 

Mr. Kett, indeed, does what he can to do away 
this reftriction, by faying, in p. 248* that, <c in their 
fecondary fenfe, thefe words may mean, this people 
(the Jewiih nation) fh&ll not pafs away till all be 
fulfilled \ however difperfed, they fhall continue a 
diftlnct people from the reft of the world, till the 
whole of this prophecy fnall be accomplished, by 
the fecond coming of the Son of Man in glory." 
But is not this rendering his own remark abfolutely 
nugatory, that thofe prophecies, which are evidently 
conrin-d by fcripture. are excepted? If fuch lan- 

effay concerning the unity of fenfe ; to {hew that no text of 
fcripture has more than one tingle fenfe. The learned Bifhop 
of Llandaft has given this effay a place among his valuable col- 
lection of tracls, and has given a character of it, which juftly 
entitles it to an attentive perufal. 

guage, 



( *99 ) 

guage, as our Lord has made ufe of, to reftrict this 
prophecy to the deftrufiion of Jerufalem, be infuffi- 
cient, and may be evaded by the introduction of 
a fecondary fenfe, and that fenfe too extending to 
very diftant ages, I do not fee what is the ufe of 
language, or what reftriction may not be evaded! 

Mr. Kett fays, vol. ii. p. 284, <c he has examined 
our Lord's prophecy, as far as relates to pad events, 
and fnewn to refer with equal certainty to the latter 
days;" and, in the following page, he fays, cc it re- 
quires no words to prove- that a great part of this 
prophecy is actually fulfilling at this moment 
and then he puts a long firing of queftions, taken 
from this prophecy, to prove that it is now fo ful- 
filling. But is this fair reafoning? Is it not tak- 
ing for granted, what there appears to be no room 
for granting, but upon the abfurd fuppofnion, that 
v/hile our Lord limited his prophecy to a given 
period in the age in which he lived, he meant it of 
a very diftant age ? 

I am, indeed, ready to acknowledge, that there 
is one part of this prophecy, which was much to 
Mr. Kett's purpofe* fo much fo, as to preclude the 
neceffity of his having recourfe to any double mean- 
ings I mean, that Jerufalem was to be trodden down, 
till the time of the Gentiles Jhould be fulfilled; but, fur- 
ther than this, I am unable, at prefent, to fee any 
connection between this prophecy and the events 
which are now occurring, or are likely to occur. 
Mr. Kett, however, thinks otherwife, and has ac- 

accordingly 



( 2CO ) 

cprdingly applied the following palTage to our 
Lord's fecond coming. Then JhaU appear the sign 
of the Son of Man in the heaven^ and then JhaU all 
the tribes of the earth mourn ; and they JhaU fee thi 
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with 
power and great glory. See vol. ii. p. 326. He 
has alfo, in p. 337, applied Mark xiii. 61, 62, to 
the fame purpofe. And the high prieft afked him, 
faying, art thou the Cbrift, the fin of the bkjj'ed ? And 
Jefus /aid, I am, and ye JhaU fee the Son of Man fit- 
ting on the right hand of power > and coming in 
the clouds of heaven. But the paflages parallel 
to this laft, in Matthew and Luke, moft diftindtly 
confine our Lord's meaning to the events of that 
age. From this time 3 air apn, fays the one. and 
from henceforth, wo tm war, fays the other. And 
this, as I have formerly obferved, determines the 
precife meaning of the former of thefe palTages. 

I have, I think, in the preceding work, pro- 
duced confiderable evidence that St. Paul's de- 
feription of the man of fin, relates to our Lord's 
prophecy of the dejiruclion of Jerufakm. d But whe- 
ther 

d MeiTrs. Beaufobre and Lenfant, though the profeffed ad- 
vocates for the application of St. Paul's language to the church 
of Some, appear ftrongly to have felt the objection to fuch an 
application arifing from the apoftle's fpeaking as if he alluded 
to the very times in which he lived. Toute la difficultc roule 
fur ce que S. Paul, femble infinuer, qu'il parle d'un evene- 
ment prochain, & qui pouvoit merae arriver durant £sl vie. 
Cell ce qui a determiner de favans interpretes a chercher, 

dan* 



( 201 ) 

ther I am right in my interpretation of it 9 or not, 
I do not think Mr. Kett is justifiable in applying 
it both to the papacy and to that formidable 
power which has now rifen in France. And, as 
to the antichrift of St. John, I will be bold to fay, 
there is not even the (hadow of evidence of his 
alluding to either of thefe powers \ but, on the 
contrary, every evidence which can reafonably be 
required, that it relates to the times then exifting, 
if not exclufively to the faife Ch rifts and falfe pro- 
phets which our Lord had foretold were to arife, 
previous to the definition of Jerufalem, Upon this 
laft fubject, there can, I think, after what has been 
faid, fcarcely be two opinions/ 

Far, 

dans les premiers terns du Chriftianifme, raccompliflement dc 
-cette prophetic The whole difficulty (of this interpretation) 
refts upon this, that St. Paul feems to infinuate that he fpoke 
of an event which was ?iear at hand, and which might even 
happen during his life. Thisjs what has determined learned 
interpreters to look for the accomplifhment of this prophecy in 
the early times of Chriftianity. 

The anfwer which thefe learned commentators give to this 
objection is this., — Mais, Dieu, qui avoit revele levenement 
a S. Paul, ne lui en avoit pas revele le terns. " But God, 
though he revealed the event to St. Paul, did not reveal to 
him the time when it mould happen." To which it may, I 
think, very fairly be replied, that though the precife time is not 
mentioned, yet it was fufficient that he exprefsjy laid it was 
near at hand. S?e the Preface of thefe Commentators to St 
Paul's 2d Epiftle to the Theffalonians. 

* Mr. Kett, it muft be acknowledged, is by no means An- 
gular in his application of the term antichrift to times more dif- 

P tant 



( 202 ) 

Far, however, very far am I from denying that 
very important prophecies are fulfilling in the aw- 
ful events that are now taking place in the world, or 
that thefe events will not ultimately be productive 
of a new and a better order of things. Some of 
the paflages which Mr. Kett has produced are, in 
my humble opinion, decifive upon this fubjecl:. 

tant than thole of the apoftles, but he very juftly obferves, 
that, in no times was caution in interpretation ever more 
Eeceffary than in thefe, when ]>arty fpirit in religion and 
in politics, is fo prevalent as to mingle itfelf almoft im- 
perceptibly with the thoughts of almort every man's heart," 
p. 315. vol. i. In this I perfectly agree with Lira, and I am very 
far from attributing to Mr. Kett a party fpirit, either in re- 
ligion or in politics (elpecially as I have no knowledge of hi* 
character but what is highly creditable to him :) but I muft fay, 
that to afcribe the term antichrift, as a prophecy of St. John, 
to the papacy, to Mahomet, and to the Infidel power oi* 
Prance, is more than any man, reading the epiftles of St. John, 
abftra&edly, could ever have imagined. Mr. Kett's remarks 
on the papal power, as one branch or form of antichrijl, have, 
I confefs, no weight with me, nor confequently on the other 
branches. To St. John's epiftles, and to them alone, is my 
appeal, and on them I reft my dilfent. It is for Mr. Kett to 
prove, what I am periuacled he has not done, nor ever can do, 
that the prophecies of Daniel, and in the book of Revelations, 
are fynonimous with the antichrijl of St. John. The book of 
Revelations has not even mentioned the term antichrijl, and I 
muft beg leave to add, that the authenticity of this book, if 
Michaelis and others are to be credited, is of fo doubtful a na- 
ture, that no appeal to it in matters of controverfy can fafely 
be made, at lealt without an acknowledgment — that it it 
doubtful, - 

But 



( *°3 ) 



But I do not think that there is any evidence, at 
leaft Mr. Kett has not produced any, that the new 
heavens and the new earth mentioned by St. Peter, 
in his id epiftle, relate to this fubjecl ; or that 
the coming of Chrift, which he mentions as the feoff 
of infidels, meant hisfecond coming to introduce the 
reign of a thoufand years. The arguments that I 
have adduced, that both the epiftles of Sc. Peter 
have a fpecial relation to the firft coming of Chrift, 
and to the happy change that would take place in 
the worldj by the introduction of Chriflianity, are 
very fatisfaclory to my own mind. And I am the 
more confirmed in this opinion, ,by the language 
which, in other parts of the epiftles, is adopted by 
St. Paul. If any man be in Chrift, he is ^ new 
creature: Old things are faffed away, behold all 
things are become new. JVe are his wcrhnanjhip 
created in Chrift J ejus. In Chrift Jefus neither 
circumcifion availeth any thing nor uncircttmcifton, but 

A NEW CREATURE. 

.This language, it muft be obferved, is highly 
figurative, and implies "no more than that the 
change in the moral and religious ftate of mankind 
would be. fo great, as to appear like a new creation* 
and fuch it really was, when the Gentile world 
embraced Chrifttanity. That this fair fabric of 
Chriftiafrity might not itfelf, in procefs of time, 
be greatly defaced and fo damaged as to want re- 
pair is no where faid, or fuppbfed, but rather the 
contrary. And we, alas, in thefe degenerate days,. 

have 



( *P4 ) 

have ieen it, in a considerable proportion of what 
has hitherto been called the Chriftian world, almoft 
in ruins ; but how, or by what means, it is to be 
reftored to its priftine beauty and ftrength, I pre- 
fume not to fay, only in general terms, that I be- 
lieve it will be fo, and that probably the events 
which are now palling in the world will be intro- 
ductory to it. 

THE END. - 



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